Seventy-four (ship) - First 74-gun Designs

First 74-gun Designs

The classic 74-gun ship was invented by the French as they rebuilt their navy during the early years of the reign of Louis XV. The new ship type was a very large two-decker big enough to carry the largest common type of gun (36-pounders) on the lower gun deck, something only three-deckers had done earlier. This great firepower was combined with very good sailing qualities compared to both the taller three-deckers and the shorter old-style 70-gun two-deckers, making the 74 the perfect combination of the two. A downside to the 74 was that it was a relatively expensive ship to build and man compared to the older type of two-decker.

The 74-gun ship normally carried twenty-eight 32- or 36-pound guns on the lower gun deck, thirty 18-pounders on the upper gun deck, and sixteen 9-pounders on the upper works. A limited number of seventy-fours were built for 24-pounders instead of 18-pounders, but this was not common due to the increased cost and also tended to overload the hull. Crew size was around 500 to 750 men depending on circumstances and nationality, British ships tending to have smaller crews than comparable Continental ones. The French have large and small seventy-fours, called "grand modèle" and "petite modèle", the waterline length of a "grand modèle" seventy-four could be up to 182 feet. This was copied by the Royal Navy in about two dozen such ships of their own, such as the HMS Colossus where they were known as Large, while the other seventy-fours built to be between 166 - 171 feet were known as Common.

Given the construction techniques of the day, the seventy-four approached the limits of what was possible. Such long hulls made from wood had a tendency to flex and sag over time. Increased maintenance could counter this to some extent, but this was of course costly. This limited the success of the even bigger two-deck 80-gun ships that were built in small numbers after the seventy-four had been introduced. Three-deckers did not have the same problem due to their additional deck giving more rigidity.

The significance of the 74s however is hard to overstate, as a summary of the ships of the line for all nations that were in commission at any time during the Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars period.

• 1st & 2nd raters (130 - 78 guns) 156
• 3rd rate 74s (inc. 70 guns) 408
• 3rd rate (60-68 guns) 199