Etna-class corvette
# Etna-class corvette

The Etna class was a class of six 16 or 18-gun corvettes with a flat hull, designed by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait and his pupil Charles-Henri Tellier. Four separate commercial shipbuilders were involved in their construction by contract - including André-François Normand, Courtois and Denise at Honfleur, and Fouache at Le Havre (two ships), while the sixth vessel was built by Pierre Ozanne at Cherbourg Dockyard. The vessels were flush-decked and originally designed to carry a 12-inch mortar. However, as the British navy captured Etna within a year and a half of her launch at which time she was not carrying any mortar, it is possible that the design was modified quite early to delete the mortar.

The Royal Navy captured three of the six vessels in the class. Three members of the class (including two in Royal Navy service), were lost to wrecking or grounding. Only one of the corvettes served for over 20 years.

## Etna class (6 ships)

* Etna

    Builder: André François and Joseph-Augustin Normand, Honfleur
    Begun: June 1794
    Launched: April 1795
    Completed: May 1795
    Fate: Captured by HMS Melampus on 13 November 1796. Commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Aetna and later renamed HMS Cormorant. Wrecked off Egypt in May 1800.
* Cérès

    Builder: Jean Fouache, Le Havre
    Begun: May 1794
    Launched: May 1795
    Completed: July 1795
    Fate: Wrecked on the shores of Norway on 17 February 1798
    Notes: Renamed from Courageuse in May 1795; may have been renamed in 1797 to '"Engant de la Patrie
* Vésuve

    Builder: Denise, Honfleur
    Begun: June 1794
    Launched: 7 August 1795
    Completed: October 1795
    Fate: Broken up in Rochefort August/September 1830
    Notes: Fitted as a flûte between November 1802 and June 1803; refitted at Le Havre in February 1807 and reclassified as a 20-gun corvette; on 31 October 1815 her use as a headquarters hulk in place of Serpente was approved.
* Étonnante

    Builder: Fouache & Reine, Honfleur
    Begun: June 1796
    Launched: 27 August 1795
    Completed: November 1796
    Fate: Hulked in Brest in 1806
* Mignonne

    Builder: Cherbourg Dockyard; constructeurs: Pierre Ozanne and after March 1795 Jean-François Lafosse
    Begun: 6 October 1794
    Launched: 15 October 1795
    Completed: April 1797
    Fate: HMS Goliath captured Mignonne in June 1803 in the West Indies. Though the Royal Navy never commissioned her, she did serve briefly before she grounded in December 1804 and was condemned.
* Torche

    Builder: Courtois, Honfleur
    Begun: June 1794
    Launched: April 1795
    Completed: May 1795
    Fate: Captured in August 1805 by HMS Goliath and incorporated in the Royal Navy as HMS Torch. She was never commissioned and was broken up in 1811.
