French frigate Hermione (1779)

The Hermione was a 12-pounder Concorde class frigate of the French Navy. She became famous when she ferried General Lafayette to the United States in 1780 to allow him to rejoin the American side in the American Revolutionary War. She grounded and was wrecked in 1793.

In 1997, construction of a replica ship started in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France; the new ship is named Hermione.

Career


Hermione was built in eleven months at Rochefort, by the shipwright Henri Chevillard as a light (légère) frigate, fast and maneuverable. Between May and December 1779 she underwent successful sea trials in the Gulf of Gascony under the command of Lieutenant de Latouche.

General La Fayette embarked at Rochefort on 11 March 1780 and arrived in Boston on 28 April carrying the then-secret news that he had secured French reinforcements (5,500 men and 5 frigates) for Washington. She got underway again on 2 June and suffered serious damage in the fierce but indecisive Action of 7 June 1780 against the 32-gun HMS Iris, under James Hawker.

Hermione received the American Congress on board in May 1781. She fought several times in company with the Astrée, commanded by Lapérouse, especially at the Naval battle of Louisbourg on 21 July 1781.

After the end of the American Revolutionary War, Hermione returned to France in February 1782. She then formed part of a squadron sent to India to help Suffren against the British. However peace was declared and the ship returned to Rochefort in April 1784.

Fate
Again in service against the British, on 20 September 1793, she ran aground off Croisic, and was then wrecked by heavy seas. The court-martial consecutive to the wreck found her pilot, Guillaume Guillemin du Conquet, responsible for her loss; her commanding officer, Captain Martin, was honourably acquitted.

Reconstruction
In 1997 a reconstruction project started in Rochefort. The new ship is named Hermione