The Diadème was the lead ship of the Diadème class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

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On 17 March 1757, along with the 64-gun Éveillé, she captured HMS Greenwich

HMS Greenwich (1747)

HMS Greenwich was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built during the War of the Austrian Succession, and went on to see action in the Seven Years' War, during which she was captured by the French and taken into their service under the same name...

, commanded by Captain Robert Roddam

Robert Roddam

Robert Roddam was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, and the American War of Independence...

, off Saint-Domingue

Saint-Domingue

The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...

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In 1780, under Dampierre she was part of La Motte-Piquet

Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte

Count Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte was a French admiral.Aged fifteen, he joined the navy as a midshipman and served in Morocco, the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean Islands and in India. Noted for his strategic skills, he was called to Paris in 1775 to help the Secretary of State prepare the...

's squadron, along with Annibal, Amphion and Réfléchi.

She took part in the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War

Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War

The naval operations of the American Revolutionary War , divide themselves naturally into two periods...

 under de Grasse

François Joseph Paul de Grasse

Lieutenant Général des Armées Navales François-Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasse Tilly, comte de Grasse was a French admiral. He is best known for his command of the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, which led directly to the British surrender at Yorktown...

, notably fighting at the Battle of the Chesapeake

Battle of the Chesapeake

The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American War of Independence that took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1781, between a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas...

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On 29 September 1792, she was renamed Brutus.

She was razé

Razee

A razee or razée is a sailing ship that has been cut down to reduce the number of decks. The word is derived from the French vaisseau rasé, meaning a razed ship.-Sixteenth century:...

 to a 42-gun frigate in May 1794. As a frigate, she took part in the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2 http://enguerrand.gourong.free.fr/dossier%20pagesdetail/22combatsanII.htm, taking Indomptable

French ship Indomptable (1789)

Indomptable was an 80-gun ship of the line in the French Navy.She took part in the Glorious First of June on 29 May 1794, engaging the English Barfleur and Orion simultaneously, after which the Indomptable, having lost her masts, was towed to Brest by the Brutus .In 1795, she served in the...

in towhttp://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:p9vKLzl0P0YJ:php4-pro.online.net/www.histofig.com/naval/n_scenarios_01.php+Indomptable+Brutus&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=uk http://www.histoire-empire.org/persos/louis_thomas_villaret_de_joyeuse.htm.

She was eventually broken up in 1797.

External links

• Ships of the line