Etna-class corvette

The Etna class was a class of six 16 or 18-gun corvettes with a flat hull, designed by Joseph Augustin Normand. Winfield gives the names of the designers as Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait and his pupil Charles-Henri Tellier. He further describes the vessels as being flush-decked and designed to carry a 12" mortar. However, as the British navy captured Etna within a year and a half of her launch at which time she was not carrying any mortar, it is possible that the design was modified quite early.

The Royal Navy captured three of the six vessels in the class. Three members of the class (including two in Royal Navy service), were lost to wrecking or grounding. Only one of the corvettes served for over 20 years.

Etna Class (6 ships)

 * Etna
 * Builder: Honfleur
 * Begun: June 1794
 * Launched: April 1795
 * Completed: May 1795
 * Fate: Captured by HMS Melampus (1785) on 13 November 1796. Commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Aetna and later renamed HMS Cormorant. Wrecked off Egypt in May 1800.


 * Cérès
 * Builder: Le Havre
 * Begun: May 1794
 * Launched: May 1795
 * Completed: July 1795
 * Fate: Wrecked on the shores of Norway on 17 February 1798


 * Vésuve
 * Builder: Honfleur
 * Begun: June 1794
 * Launched: 7 August 1795
 * Completed: October 1795
 * Fate: Broken up in Rochefort in 1816


 * Étonnante
 * Builder: Honfleur
 * Begun: June 1796
 * Launched: 27 August 1795
 * Completed: November 1796
 * Fate: Hulked in Brest in 1806


 * Mignonne
 * Builder: Cherbourg
 * Begun: 6 October 1794
 * Launched: 15 October 1795
 * Completed: April 1797
 * Fate: HMS Goliath captured Mignonne in June 1803 in the West Indies. Though the Royal Navy never commissioned her, she did serve briefly before she grounded in 1804 and was condemned.


 * Torche
 * Builder: Honfleur
 * Begun: June 1794
 * Launched: April 1795
 * Completed: May 1795
 * Fate: Captured in August 1805 by HMS Goliath and incorporated in the Royal Navy as HMS Torch. She was never commissioned and was broken up in 1811.