The French ship Aigle was a 74-gun Téméraire-class ship of the line, constructed during the 1790s for the French Navy. Laid down at the Arsenal de Rochefort on December 26, 1794, and launched on July 6, 1800, she was completed by February 1801 and commissioned in April of that year. Designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, the Aigle was a formidable warship characterized by its robust construction and significant firepower. Measuring approximately 55.87 meters (183 feet 4 inches) in length and 14.46 meters (47 feet 5 inches) in beam, she had a depth of hold of 7.15 meters (23 feet 5 inches) and displaced around 3,069 tonneaux, with a tonnage of 1,537 port tonneaux. Her hull accommodated a crew of about 705 officers and ratings during wartime. The ship was rigged with three masts and was fully ship-rigged, suitable for the long voyages and battles of the era. The armament of Aigle comprised primarily of smoothbore, muzzle-loading guns, including twenty-eight 36-pounder long guns on the lower gun deck, thirty 18-pounder long guns on the upper deck, and sixteen 8-pounder long guns on the quarterdeck and forecastle. Starting with ships completed after 1787, the class often added four 36-pounder obusiers on the poop deck, though some variations included twenty 8-pounders instead. Aigle's service included a voyage to the West Indies in 1805 with her sister ship Algésiras, where they joined Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve’s fleet. She participated in the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805, a pivotal naval engagement during the Napoleonic Wars. During the battle, she was captured by a boarding party from HMS Defiance. Notably, her crew managed to recapture her the following day, only to be wrecked in a storm on October 23, 1805. The Aigle's history reflects her role as a significant, though not heavily prominent, asset in naval warfare of her time, exemplifying the design and combat characteristics of the renowned Téméraire class.

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