The Abeille class was a type of 16-gun brig-corvette of the French Navy, designed by François Pestel[1] with some units refined by Pierre-Jacques-Nicolas Rolland. They were armed with either 24-pounder carronades, or a mixture of light 6-pounder long guns and lighter carronades. Twenty-one ships of this type were built between 1801 and 1812, and served in the Napoleonic Wars.
The four first ships were ordered in bulk on 24 December 1800, but two (Mouche and Serin) could not be completed due to shortages of timbers.As the forerunner of the series, Abeille, is not always identified as such in British sources, the type is sometimes referred to as the Sylphe class, after Sylphe, which served as model for subsequent constructions.
Builder: Toulon [2]
Begun: 24 December 1800
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Fate: Never completed due to lack of timber.
Builder: Toulon [3]
Begun: 24 December 1800
Launched: 24 June 1801
Completed: 21 May 1801
Fate: Hulked in 1844, renamed Molène and used as an achor depot in Brest in 1865
Builder: Toulon [4]
Begun: September 1801
Launched: 24 December 1801
Completed: 25 February 1802
Fate: Captured by HMS Hydra on 27 February 1806
Builder: Toulon [5]
Begun: 1802
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Fate: Never completed due to lack of timber.
Builder: Nantes [6]
Begun: 1803
Launched: 8 July 1804
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Fate: Captured by HMS Goliath on 2 August 1805 and commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Fawn
Builder: Caudan, Lorient [7]
Begun: 15 June 1803
Launched: 27 April 1804
Completed: 13 July 1804
Fate: Captured by HMS Niobe on 28 March 1806.
Builder: Dunkerque [8]
Begun: June 1803
Launched: 10 July 1804
Completed: 29 September 1804
Fate: Captured by HMS Comet on 18 August 1808, commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Seagull
Builder: Genoa (Italy) [9]
Begun: April 1805
Launched: 18 August 1806
Completed: 21 November 1806
Fate: Broken up in 1823
Builder: Le Havre Dockyard[10]
Begun: 28 April 1806
Launched: 12 September 1806
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Fate: Ran aground and scuttled by fire to avoid capture
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Builder: Genoa Dockyard
Begun: November 1808
Launched: 12 May 1810
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Fate: Seized by the British in 1814 with the capitulation of Genoa
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