Pluton was a 74-gun French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 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...

 built at 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....

.

It took part in 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 ....

 under Captain Julien Cosmao

Julien Cosmao

Julien Marie Cosmao-Kerjulien was a French Navy officer, admiral, and hero of the Battle of Trafalgar.- Early career :...

 escaped 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....

 with other ships. Two days later, on 23 October 1805, she was the flagship of the counter-attack from Cádiz, together with 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...

, Neptune

French ship Neptune

Neptune was a Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Built during the last years of the French Revolutionary Wars she was launched at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars...

, Rayo

Spanish ship Rayo (1751)

The Rayo was an 80-gun ship of the line of the Spanish Navy. As was traditional for Spanish ships not named after a saint, its dedicatory name was San Pedro Apóstol. It fought at and was wrecked in the storm that followed.- External links :**...

, and San Francisco de Asis. They managed to recapture Santa Anna and Algésiras. To prevent their recapture, the British scuttled Intrépide

French ship Intrépide

Intrépide was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the French navy. She was originally built at Ferrol, Spain in 1799 as the Spanish ship of the line Intrepido, and later was sold to France in 1800....

, and Neptuno

Spanish ship Neptuno (1795)

Neptuno was an 80-gun Montañes-class ship of the line of the Spanish Navy. She was built in 1795 and took part in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. She fought with the Franco-Spanish fleet in the battle of Trafalgar, and was wrecked in its aftermath.Neptuno was built at Ferrol and...

. Rayo and San Francisco de Asis were wrecked on their journey back.

She was captured by Spain in Cadiz in 1808 and commissioned in the Spanish Navy as Pluton. She was later renamed Montañes, and was eventually broken up in 1816.

Sources and references

• Ships of the line