Serpente-class corvette
The Serpente class was a class of four 20-gun corvettes for the French Navy, designed by Charles-Henri Tellier as a follow-on to the s of the previous year. Four separate commercial shipbuilders were involved in their construction by contract, with three being ordered at Honfleur in 1794 and a fourth at Le Havre across the Seine estuary in 1795. The vessels were flush-decked and designed to carry a battery of twenty 18-pounder guns.
The Royal Navy captured one of the four vessels in the class, and burnt another in action.