A large number of ships of the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

have borne the name ''Argonaute'' in honour of the mythological navigators

argonauts The Argonauts ( ; ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', named after it ...

. Among them: * , a 50-gun

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

, personal ship of Emmanuel-Auguste de Cahideuc, Comte Dubois de la Motte * , a 46-gun ship of the line, lead ship of her class * , a

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently de ...

ship of the line, razéed to a 42-gun ship in 1794 and renamed ''Flibustier'', out of service in 1795 * , a 74-gun ship of the line that took part in the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

* ''Argonaute'' (1806), formerly the Spanish ''Vencedor'' of 78 guns * , a ship of the line launched in 1840 but never commissioned * , a

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

* , a prototype

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

* , a submarine, lead ship of her class, sunk by and/or on 8 November 1942 * , a submarine of the ''Aréthuse'' type (1958), now a museum * , a ship specialised in rescue and decontamination

Sources and references

Les bâtiments ayant porté le nom dArgonaute''
netmarine.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Argonaute, French Ship French Navy ship names