Léopard was a 74-gun built for the French Navy during the 1780s. Completed in 1785, she played a minor role in the French Revolutionary Wars.
Description The Téméraire-class ships had a length of , a beam of and a depth of hold of . The ships displaced 3,069 tonneaux and had a mean draught of . They had a tonnage of 1,537 port tonneaux. Their crew numbered 705 officers and ratings during wartime. They were fitted with three masts and ship rigged.Winfield & Roberts, p. 87
The muzzle-loading, smoothbore armament of the Téméraire class consisted of twenty-eight 36-pounder long guns on the lower gun deck, thirty 18-pounder long guns and thirty 18-pounder long guns on the upper gun deck. On the quarterdeck and forecastle were a total of a dozen 8-pounder long guns and ten 36-pounder carronades.
Construction and career
Léopard was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest on 15 November 1785 and named on 28 January 1786. The ship was launched on 22 June 1787 and completed the following month. On 30 October 1788, Léopard departed Toulon for a cruise in the Caribbean, under Captain de la Galissoninère.Les Barrin de la Galissoninère, Pierre Roucou, Le Pallet, Patrie d'Abélard, 2e édition 2003, Association culturelle Pierre Abélard, édition avril 2006.|access-date=29 June 2025
On 15 September 1790, a fight between sailors from Léopard and caused a mutiny; the entire crew of Léopard was expelled from the Navy by a decree of the National Constituent Assembly. From 1792, Léopard took part in the Expédition de Sardaigne under Captain Bourdon-Gramont, capturing Carloforte on 8 January 1793. On 17 February, Léopard ran aground in a storm off Cagliari; after two days trying to refloat her, the crew abandoned the ship and set her on fire after offloading the guns and matériel.Roche, p. 278
References
Bibliography
Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen S. (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing.