French Ship Neptune (1803)

French Ship Neptune (1803)

For other ships of the same name, see French ship Neptune and Spanish ship Neptuno.

Neptune was a Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Built during the last years of the French Revolutionary Wars she was launched at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. Her brief career with the French included several major battles, though she spent the last 12 years of her life under the Spanish flag.

Neptune was built at Toulon and launched in 1803. She was commissioned in time to join an abortive attempt to break the British blockade of the port in October 1804, but the fleet was forced back to port by bad weather. She sailed again with the fleet, under Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, in early 1805, and this time succeeded in breaking out of the Mediterranean, and sailing to the West Indies, where the fleet was joined by Spanish ships. After achieving little in the Caribbean, the fleet sailed back to Europe, where they were engaged by a British fleet in the Battle of Cape Finisterre. Neptune saw little action, and was relatively unscathed. She took part in the final fleet manoeuvres, and ended up blockaded in Cadiz by a British fleet under Lord Nelson.

Villeneuve came out of Cadiz in late 1805, and was engaged by Nelson in the decisive Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October. During the battle Neptune fired on Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, and duelled with several British ships including HMS Royal Sovereign, HMS Temeraire and HMS Belleisle. As the British began to overwhelm the combined fleet, the relatively undamaged Neptune joined several ships in a retreat to Cadiz. She sortied again two days later in an attempt to recover some of the prizes, but the fleet lost more ships than they regained, and Neptune had to be towed back to harbour. There she remained, under a close British blockade, until the Spanish declared war on the French. Trapped in the port, the French handed their ships over to the Spanish, who renamed Neptune Neptuno, replacing a Spanish ship lost at Trafalgar. Neptuno served with the Spanish for a further 12 years, being broken up in 1820.