LE FLEURON, 64-gun ship of the line 1729

Le Fleuron, a 64-gun ship of the line 3rd rate, was built according to plans by naval architect Blaise Ollivier who also together with his father, Joseph, a naval architect as well, conducted and surveyed the construction of the ship in Brest 1729-32. Le Fleuron is an excellent example of the French naval architecture school at the beginning of the 18th century which was not yet influenced by the English and Dutch naval schools. Le Fleuron was one of the finest ships in Louis XV's navy and received the following testimonial (among others): " all those who have served on Le Fleuron or seen her sailing, regard her as the perfect ship" and it was often the fastest ship in the squadron.

The ship served in the French navy until 1745 when it burned at the roadstead of Brest. In active service Le Fleuron participated in several missions to, among other places, North America, Guinea and notably three trips to the Baltic Sea.

Le Fleuron was 145 feet (French) 8 inches (47,20m) long; 39 feet 4 inches (12,73m) large and 18 feet 2 inches (5,88m) moulded depth. In time of peace Le Fleuron was armed with 60 guns; 24 24-pounder iron guns on the lower deck; 26 12-pounder iron guns on the main deck; and 10 6-pounder iron guns on the forecastle and quarterdeck. Le Fleuron had a total crew of 450-500 men depending on its mission.

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Special thanks to :
- Deltafall for the infographic
- Iskillia and VoenixX for the renders
- the NewHeaven team
- the Shipside team : check out Bushido's Fleuron and Yeroman's Fleuron!

Further information :
- Scale : 3:1
- time to build : a little over two months
- Inspiration : Le Fleuron ("The Jewel") is probably one of the most beautiful ship of the line I've ever seen. Well known to model makers, he is unique insofar as he represents the rise of long two-decker in the french navy, at the expense of three-deckers. Indeed, two-deckers litterally became the king's flagships until Sané's Océan-class. He is pretty unique, and after having looking at several models, I fell in love with the ship, and I decided to reproduce it.