michelsr

Hello, I discover incidentally this discussion and write probably well "after the battle" as would say the french. There is a whole book (partly translated in english if I remember well) explaining the history of the Hermione guns. It explains that Hermione was equipped with the "standard configuration" of 26 12-pounders and 8 6-pounders at the time of the frigate's launch. Despite launched in 1779, Artillery was cast in 1766-1767 in Ruelles sur Touvre and initially installed on the frigate Engageante. As Engageante was in a process of a full rebuild, her artillery was shifted to the Hermione. It seems that there was at the time a fierce controversy between the ministry of Marine (Mr De Sartine) and the "intendant" of the Rochefort port (Mr De la Touche Treville father) regarding the number of guns embarked abord the Hermione, but finally it was clarified it was the standard 26+8 configuration. I haven' found records of installation on small deck ordnance (pierrier or obusier-caronade). Shapeways provides the french artillery of 1758 and 1766 in various scales, if it can help (an extract of their comments in French). "Les canons de 12£ de l'Hermione ont été sans doute fondus en 1766-1767 aux forges de Ruelle et de Forgeneuve par le fondeur Baynaud. Ils ont initialement été installés sur la frégate l'Engageante, sur laquelle ils sont prélevés en 1779 (l'Engageante est alors en refonte à Rocherfort) pour être mis à bord de l'Hermione. De ce fait, les tourillons de ces pièces sont gravés d'un coté de la lettre "B" (pour Baynaud" et de l'autres des lettres "R" ou "RV" pour désigner les forges de Ruelles."