Ajax was a 74-gun built for the French Navy during the 1790s. Completed in 1806, she played a minor role in the Napoleonic Wars.
Description Designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, 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 and thirty 18-pounder long guns on the upper gun deck. On the quarterdeck and forecastle were a total of sixteen 8-pounder long guns. Beginning with the ships completed after 1787, the armament of the Téméraires began to change with the addition of four 36-pounder obusiers on the poop deck (). Some ships had instead twenty 8-pounders.Winfield & Roberts, pp. 87–88
Construction and career Ajax was ordered on 6 April 1804 and laid down on 23 November 1804 at the Arsenal de Rochefort. The ship was launched on 17 June 1806. The ship was commissioned by Captain Jean-Nicolas Petit on 26 August 1806 and completed in September.Winfield & Roberts, p. 94 Ajax replaced her sister ship Jemmapes in Zacharie Allemand's squadron later that year. In 1808, she transferred to Toulon, where she later became a floating battery in 1815.Roche, p. 13
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