List of Ships of The Line of France - Louis XIII (1610 To 1643)

Louis XIII (1610 To 1643)

The first seven years of this reign were under the Regency of Marie de Médicis, the consort of Henri IV - Louis XIII's father, who had been assassinated in 1610. Following the Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré and the Siege of La Rochelle, and in line with his general efforts to enhance the prestige and status of France in Europe, the Cardinal de Richelieu had a number of warships purchased from Holland, and eventually built in France by Holland-instructed French engineers. The largest of these ships of the line would mount a number of guns comparable to later units of the 18th and 19th century, such as the famous 72-gun Couronne, but the brunt of these ships would mount between 20 and 40 guns. The artillery was also comparaively lighter: Couronne mounted 18-pounder long guns on her main battery, where any of the numerous 74-gun ships of the line that formed the backbone of the Navy from the late 18th century would mount 36-pounder long guns.