Indomptable ("Indomitable") was an 80-gun ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 in 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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She took part in the Glorious First of June

Glorious First of June

The Glorious First of June [Note A] of 1794 was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars...

 on 29 May 1794, engaging the English Barfleur

HMS Barfleur (1768)

HMS Barfleur was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Thomas Slade on the lines of the 100-gun ship Royal William, and launched at Chatham Dockyard on 30 July 1768, at a cost of £49,222. In about 1780, she had another eight guns added to her quarterdeck, making...

 and Orion

HMS Orion (1787)

HMS Orion was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Deptford on 1 June 1787 to the design of the , by William Bately...

simultaneously, after which the Indomptable, having lost her masts, was towed to Brest by the Brutus

French ship Diadème (1756)

The Diadème was the lead ship of the Diadème class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.On 17 March 1757, along with the 64-gun Éveillé, she captured HMS Greenwich, commanded by Captain Robert Roddam, off Saint-Domingue....

http://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.

In 1795, she served in the Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 under contre-amiral François Joseph Bouvet

François Joseph Bouvet

- Early life :Son of a captain in the service of the French East India Company, he went to sea at the age of twelve with his father aboard the Villevault in 1765. In 1780, Bouvet served in the East Indies in the famous campaign of 1781–83 under the command of Suffren...

. She took part in the landing attempt in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 planned by General Louis Lazare Hoche. In 1801, she was engaged in the campaign in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, but was unable to break the English blockade and stayed in Toulon

Toulon

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

. Other elements of the fleet managed to reach Elba

Elba

Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...

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The Indomptable fought in the Battle of Algeciras in 1801 when she was again badly damaged. In 1802 and 1803, she served in Toulon under Admiral Latouche Tréville

Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville

Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville was a French admiral and a hero of the American Revolutionary War and of the Napoleonic wars.-Early life:...

. On 17 January 1805, she went to sea under Admiral Villeneuve

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve

Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and Spanish fleets defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar....

, together with ten other ships of the line and eight frigates, and on 20 January the fleet sailed for the French Caribbean.

Off Cadiz, the fleet was joined by the Aigle, 74, and six Spanish ships of the line under Vice-Admiral Gravina. When the fleet reached the West Indies, Villeneuve sent Commodore Cosmao-Kerjulien with the Pluton

French ship Pluton

Eight ships of the French Navy have borne the name Pluton in honour of the Roman god Pluto :* the 74-gun ship of the line Pluton built at Cherbourg in 1778 which fought at the Battle of the Saintes in the American War of Independence and was renamed Dugommier in 1797.* a privateer cutter * the...

 and the to attack the British position on Diamond Rock

Diamond Rock

Diamond Rock is a 175 meter high basalt island located south of Fort-de-France, the main port of the Caribbean island of Martinique. The uninhabited island is about three kilometers from Pointe Diamant. The island gets its name from the reflections that its sides cast at certain hours of the day,...

, which surrendered on June 2nd. Villeneuve returned to Europe on hearing that Nelson had arrived in the West Indies.

On 22 June 1805, in the battle of Cape Finisterre

Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)

In the Battle of Cape Finisterre off Galicia, Spain, the British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder fought an indecisive naval battle against the Combined Franco-Spanish fleet which was returning from the West Indies...

 the quartermasters of Indomptable spotted the British fleet under Sir Robert Calder

Robert Calder

Admiral Sir Robert Calder, 1st Baronet, KCB was a British naval officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.-Early life:...

. After a violent artillery exchange, the fleets became separated in the fog. Exhausted after six months at sea, the fleet anchored in Ferrol before sailing to Cádiz

Cádiz

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

 to rest and refit. With his command under question and planning to meet the British fleet to gain a decisive victory, Villeneuve left Cádiz and met the British fleet near Cape Trafalgar

Cape Trafalgar

Cape Trafalgar is a headland in the Province of Cádiz in the south-west of Spain. It lies on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, northwest of the Strait of Gibraltar...

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During the Battle of Trafalgar

Battle of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

 on 21 October, 1805, the Indomptable was in the Spanish line between the San Justo and the Santa Anna. She engaged the British Revenge

HMS Revenge (1805)

HMS Revenge was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 April 1805. She was designed by Sir John Henslow as one of the large class 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught...

, Dreadnought

HMS Dreadnought (1801)

HMS Dreadnought was a Royal Navy 98-gun second rate. This ship of the line was launched at Portsmouth at midday on Saturday, 13 June 1801, after she had spent 13 years on the stocks...

 and Thunderer

HMS Thunderer (1783)

HMS Thunderer was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at the Wells brother's shipyard in Rotherhithe and launched on 13 November 1783...

. She left the battle with the Spanish, and rescued the survivors of the Bucentaure

French ship Bucentaure (1804)

Bucentaure was a 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Latouche Tréville, who died on board on 18 August 1804....

 before returning to Rota

Rota, Spain

-External references:*, official website * On-line since 1999! News, premiere information, pictures, weather, etc. Into Spanish, English... ****- External links :...

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During the following night, a storm broke her anchor chains and she ran aground. Only about 150 out of 1200 men (the 700-man crew and 500 survivors of the Bucentaure) survived.