French ship Utile (1764)

	Watercolour portrait of sister-ship Flamand, by François Roux, commissioned by Willaumez
History
France
Name	Utile
Namesake	"Useful"
Builder	Bordeaux
Laid down	May 1763
Launched	11 August 1745
In service	18 October 1764
Out of service	1771
Fate	Broken up 1793
General characteristics
Displacement	1100 tonnes
Length	50.7 metres
Beam	13.8 metres
Draught	6.3 metres
Propulsion	Sail, full-rigged ship
Complement	560 men
Armament	56 guns:; 24 36-pounder long guns; 26 18-pounder long guns; 6 8-pounder long guns;
Armour	Timber

The Utile was a 56-gun Bordelois-class ship of the line of the French Navy. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the States of Flander, and built by engineer Léon Guignace on a design by Antoine Groignard. Completed too late to serve in the Seven Years' War, she served in the Mediterranean before becoming a junk in Rochefort.^[1]

Career[edit]

From April to October 1765, Utile campaigned under Captain Duchaffault against privateers off Morocco. She took part in the 1765 Bombardment of Salé and in the Bombardment of Larache.^[1]

From 1772, she was reduced to a hulk in Rochfort and used as a masting machine. She was eventually broken up around 1793.^[1]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671 - 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. p. 453. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.

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