The Virginie class was a class of ten 44-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1793 by Jacques-Noël Sané. An eleventh vessel (Zephyr) begun in 1794 was never completed.
- Virginie
- Builder: Brest
- Begun: November 1793
- Launched: 26 July 1794
- Completed: December 1794
- Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 22 April 1796, becoming HMS Virginie.
- Courageuse
- Builder: Brest
- Begun: December 1793
- Launched: early August 1794
- Completed: December 1794
- Fate: Renamed Justice April 1795. Captured by the British Navy in September 1801, but not added to Royal Navy; instead, handed over to the Turkish Navy.
- Harmonie
- Builder: Bordeaux
- Begun: May 1794
- Launched: early 1796
- Completed: May 1796
- Fate: Beached and burnt to avoid capture by the British Navy in April 1797.
- Volontaire
- Builder: Bordeaux
- Begun: September 1794
- Launched: 7 June 1796
- Completed: 1796
- Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 4 March 1806, becoming HMS Volontaire.
- Cornélie
- Builder: Brest
- Begun: March 1794
- Launched: 19 September 1796
- Completed: April 1798
- Fate: Captured by the Spanish Navy in June 1808, becoming Spanish Cornelia.
- Zéphyr
- Builder: Brest
- Begun: March 1794
- Fate: Construction abandoned in April 1804 (never launched).
- Didon
- Builder: Saint Malo
- Begun: September 1796
- Launched: 1 August 1799
- Completed: September 1800
- Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 10 August 1805, becoming HMS Didon.
- Atalante
- Builder: Saint Malo
- Begun: September 1799
- Launched: 29 June 1802
- Completed: July 1802
- Fate: Wrecked in November 1805.
- Rhin
- Builder: Toulon
- Begun: June 1801
- Launched: 15 April 1802
- Completed: October 1802
- Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 27 July 1806, becoming HMS Rhin.
- Belle Poule
- Builder: Basse-Indre
- Begun: June 1801
- Launched: 17 April 1802
- Completed: September 1802
- Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 13 March 1806, becoming HMS Belle Poule.
- Surveillante
- Builder: Basse-Indre
- Begun: July 1801
- Launched: 29 May 1802
- Completed: December 1802
- Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 30 November 1803, becoming HMS Surveillante.
Famous quotes containing the words class and/or frigate:
“You must drop all your democracy. You must not believe in “the people.” One class is no better than another. It must be a case of Wisdom, or Truth. Let the working classes be working classes. That is the truth. There must be an aristocracy of people who have wisdom, and there must be a Ruler: a Kaiser: no Presidents and democracies.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Our frigate takes fire,
The other asks if we demand quarter?
If our colors are struck and the fighting done?
Now I laugh content for I hear the voice of my little captain,
We have not struck, he composedly cries, we have just begun our part of the fighting.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)