L'Hermione (1779)
Concorde class 12-pounder frigate
Displacement: 550 tons; 1160 ton burthen[1]
Length: 44.2 m (145 ft)
Beam: 11.24 m (36.9 ft)
Draught: 5.78 m (19.0 ft)
Complement: 255
Armament: 32 guns:
26 × 12-pounder long guns
6 6-pounder long guns
During the American Revolution French General La Fayette arrived in Boston on 28 April, 1780 with the news that he had secured French reinforcements (5,500 men and 5 frigates) for Washington. June 1780 she suffered serious damage against the British 32-gun HMS Iris.
Hermione received the American Congress on board in May 1781. She fought several times in company with the Astrée, including the Naval battle of Louisbourg in July 1781.
She returned to France in 1782 after the end of the American Revolutionary War. She then became part of a squadron sent to India to help French efforts against the British.
In September 1793 she ran aground off Croisic and was wrecked by heavy seas.
In 1997 a reconstruction of this vessel was begun. Today, she's on exhibit and is periodically taken out on goodwill cruises.
Craig H