On 21 October 1805, Intrépide was one of the ships of Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley at the Battle of Trafalgar, under Captain Louis-Antoine Infernet.
Dumanoir commanded the six ship vanguard of the French fleet, with, Duguay-Trouin,, Intrépide and . Nelson's attacks left these ships downwind of the main confrontation and Dumanoir did not immediately obey Villeneuve's orders to return to the battle. When the ships did turn back, most of them only exchanged a few shots before retiring.
Infernet and his crew, wanting to join the fight, eventually disobeyed Dumanoir's orders and joined the battle, followed by the Spanish 80-gun (Captain Cayetano de Valdés). Intrépide fought against,,,, and, only to strike her colours at about 17:00, badly damaged with half of her crew dead.
Intrépide was later scuttled on Admiral Collingwood's orders, partly to avoid recapture by the counter-attack of the six ship French squadron led by Captain Julien Cosmao of, two days later, and partly because the severe gale made it impossible to save most of the damaged prizes.