The Aquilon was a 74-gun ship of the line belonging to the Téméraire class, constructed for the French Navy in the late 18th century. Laid down in August 1787 at the Arsenal de Rochefort, she was launched on June 8, 1789, and completed by June 1790. As a representative of the Téméraire class, she measured approximately 55.87 meters (183 ft 4 in) in length, with a beam of 14.46 meters (47 ft 5 in) and a depth of hold of 7.15 meters (23 ft 5 in). She displaced around 3,069 tonneaux and had a tonnage of 1,537 port tonneaux, with a mean draught of 7.15 meters. Her crew comprised about 705 officers and ratings during wartime, and she was rigged with three masts, typical of ship-rigged vessels of her class. Armament on the Aquilon included a broad complement of smoothbore, muzzle-loading guns. Her lower gun deck was equipped with twenty-eight 36-pounder long guns, while the upper deck carried thirty 18-pounder long guns, supplemented by an additional sixteen 8-pounder long guns on the quarterdeck and forecastle. Starting from ships completed after 1787, modifications included the addition of four 36-pounder obusiers on the poop deck, although some ships retained twenty 8-pounders instead. The Aquilon's service history includes participation in the Italian campaign of 1796–1797, after which she returned to Toulon in April 1798. She served off the coast of Italy under Vice-Admiral Brueys' squadron, commanded by Captain Antoine-René Thévenard. Notably, she fought in the Battle of the Nile, engaging British ships such as HMS Vanguard, HMS Minotaur, and HMS Theseus. Her combat experience culminated in her capture by the British, after which she was recommissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Aboukir. The vessel's history underscores her role in the naval conflicts of the late 18th century and her significance as a representative of French naval engineering and maritime warfare during the revolutionary period.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.