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"Leon Trionfante" Venetian 3rd Rate 1716 (With Plans)


Fluffy Fishy

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Introduction

Leon Trionfante at 70 guns was one of the largest and most successful ship classes in the late Venetian navy. The Leon Trionfante class has an impressive history of use serving both in the Venetian and later the French navy over an impressive time span of 109 years between 1716 to 1825, serving in the Second Morean war, The Venetian Tunisian war and the Napoleonic Wars. The long service history is in part due to the way the Venetian government was operating its navy in the last century of the republic of Venice, partly due to the design being ahead of its time but also in part due to the poor success of the following San Carlo Borromeo Class. The Leon Trionfante, as the nameship of her class was first designed and laid by Francesco da Ponte di Angelo in 1714 as a one of a kind to move the Venetian navy on from the much more contemporary design shown in the San Lorenzo Zustinian Class (1690) and after the Venetian State had decided that the Corona, another one off design for a 74 drawn up in 1711 was deemed to expensive in terms of both production and maintenance.

History

Leon Trionfante was born into a particularly unstable time frame the as long standing hostilities between Venice and the Ottomans had broken into the 7th and final Venetian Ottoman war (1714-1718), also known as The Second Morean War. Her launch in July was immediately followed by a rush to join up with the rest of the Venetian fleet which was currently in a sticky predicament facing a larger Ottoman fleet with far more firepower off the coast of Corfu in the Ionian sea. The island of Corfu was of considerable importance to Venice, seen as the eye to the Adriatic, the core of the Venetian maritime commerce and territory, the Venetian state had outlined that Corfu must be kept at all costs, Corfu also offered the largest Venetian naval base outside of Venice. The Ottomans had been putting Corfu under considerable pressure since 1715, forcing the Venetian Navy to shadow the Turkish fleet. On the 8th of July the Ottomans landed a considerable land force of 33,000 men on Corfu, The Venetian navy hassled them during their deployment but the battle remained indecisive. Leon Trionfante reached the rest of the Venetian fleet on the 10th of July accompanying two troop ships, prompting a morale boost for the Venetians and resulting in a daring plan which resulted in the superior Venetian seamanship giving them a considerable positioning advantage over the Turks. The siege collapsed in August following a mighty storm which caused considerable damage to the Ottoman fleet but was weathered with little damage to the better positioned Venetian Fleet, costing the Ottomans a humiliating defeat and withdrawal.

After the storm and defeat on Corfu the Ottoman ships limped home and the Turkish started to pursue a more land based campaign, this in turn aggravated the Autrians into a simultaneous conflict started in 1716. The conflict was also expanded on with the formation of a new Papal coalition against the ottomans, with The Holy League of 1717, resulting in naval reinforcements from Portugal, The Papal States and Maltese Knights. With the support of this holy league Venice became more assertive and set sail from Corfu towards the Dardanelles with the aim of cutting off the Ottoman Fleet. The result of this maneuvering was a confrontation in the northern Aegean between the 26 ships of the Venetian Fleet and the 44 Ottoman ships, which were also larger than their Venetian counterparts. The resulting battle left 6 Ottoman ships and the Venetian ship Columba badly damaged, the results are considered indecisive but a Venetian tactical victory. A month later, the Holy league Fleet had combined and continued to press against Ottoman interests, and on the 19th of July the two forces clashed again at the Battle of Matapan, where the larger Allied fleet of smaller ships inflicted a crushing victory over the Ottoman Fleet including significant damage to the huge ottoman flagship, the 114 gun Kebir Üç Ambarlı. A year later the Venetian fleet engaged the Ottomans in the second Battle of Matapan, resulting in the Ottoman navy being reduced to an insignificant threat and the two sides finding a peace deal.

During this conflict, these 3 battles and the maneuvering at Corfu gave Leon Trionfante a considerable name for itself, continuing to serve the Venetian navy until she was broken up in 1740, having vastly outperformed the now outdated San Lorenzo Zustinian ships in war and peace. However, despite the combative success during the Second Morean War, the Venetian state chose to maintain their building program of the San Lorenzo class due to the efficiency bonus given to it being well known to the craftsmen and suppliers of the Arsenal. Following the end to the Second Morean war we see more interest being shown in Leon Trionfante and over the next 20 years the Venetian state ordered several more ships, with a considerable program being launched in 1719, another in mid 1720s and a third during the 1730s, however none of these ships were launched before 1761. In each of these 3 programs the design was adjusted slightly, with little tweaks here and there, mainly resulting in fairly insignificant changes to the length of the ship. The long build periods were a common thing in Venice, the practice of covered dry docks and stable climate allowed long construction times and ships tended to only be added to during prosperous or troubled periods where the state could afford or was forced to pay for ship construction. The progress was also somewhat delayed by the new San Carlo Borromeo class, which was conceived in 1741, with the name ship being launched in 1750.

 

The San Carlo Borromeo class, whilst being technically a more modern class was somewhat backwards when compared to Leon Trionfante, she was also armed with 4 fewer guns. The San Carlos took a more more conservative approach to ship design with a lot of inspiration from the now wholly outdated San Lorenzo class, in total 6 were ordered. However during the late 1750s Venice began a series of sea trials off the coast of Portugal looking into how their navy coped in the rougher Atlantic waters. The San Carlo Borromeo was noted for performing poorly, the ship was unable to keep any significant speed and when she was sailed hard she became both unstable and started to damage herself in the large waves, The ship was deemed unsafe and had to be rescued by a Galleass captained by the young Angelo Emo, being towed back to port, barely staying afloat. It was now decided that the two most complete ships from the Leon Trionfante program were to be launched, following their launch in 1761 the sea trials continued, the two new ships, San Giacomo and Buon Consiglio performing excellently in all areas, the results of these sea trials was the relative scrapping of the San Carlo program with the resumption of building the Leon Trionfante.

As Venice continued to invest into the class the Independence movement started to draw the eyes of the European power westwards, resulting in lax Mediterranean shipping security and the rise of piracy in north Africa. the new ships of the Leon Trionfante class became increasingly popular as escorts to merchant convoys and as tensions rose became increasingly important in deterring pirates, however their size and speed made them unable to chase down or offer any real threat to the fast Barbary ships, to combat Venice began a modernisation process resulting in better construction methods and faster ships, and while a new ship, the "1780" was planned to replace the Leon Trionfante class this new design never saw a completed ship under the republic, in part because the Leon Trionfante class was still performing its role well after over 60 years of service at this point. As tensions rose and the break out of a full scale conflict between the Bey of Tunis and Venice in 1784, the Leon Trionfante ships would see considerable service during this war, while it was unable to chase down the smaller faster Tunisian ships it offered considerable firepower and the ships were used extensively in the bombardment and destruction of Tunisian harbors. after the cessation of conflict in 1790 with Angelo Emo's death the Venetian state became short of funds and their navy began to shrink down but the Leon Trionfante class continued to serve until the end of the republic in 1797

Following the Annexation of Venice and its land by France the remaining 6 serving ships of the Venetian fleet were captured and began to serve under the French flag. The french did however spend quite some time and resources completing the various Venetian half built ships left in the Arsenal sheds, this meant the final ships of the construction plans of the 1730s were completed and brought into use serving various roles in the French naval expeditions, with a large selection of the remaining ships being sent to Toulon and outfitted to form Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, due to this they eventually came into conflict with the Royal Navy. Over time the ships became damaged in combat or due to wear and tear, The last surviving ship Medea, had begun her construction in 1732, launched in 1793 and was finally broken up in 1825 after 32 years of service.

The Leon Trionfante Class

The Leon Trionfante class consisted of 16 ships in 4 different Series,

The First Series:
Leon Trionfante, 70 guns (1716)
San Giacomo, 70 guns (1761)
Buon Consiglio, 70 guns (1761)
Fedelta, 70 guns (1770)
Forza, 70 guns (1774)

The Second Series:
Corriera Veneta, 70 guns (1770)
Diligenza, 70 guns (1774)
Fenice 2, 70 guns (1779)
Galatea, 70 guns (1779)

Third Series:
Vittoria 2, 70 guns (1785)
La Guerriera, 70 guns (1785)
Medea, 66 guns (1793)
Unnamed, 66 guns (1800) was transformed into a floating gunned pontoon by the Austrians

Fourth Series:
L'Eolo 1785
San Giorgio 1785
Unnamed, 66 guns (1800) was transformed into a gunned pontoon by the Austrians

Armaments:

I am giving the cannon poundage in Venetian Pounds.
 

Early Armament (Leon Trionfante Only):
6 x 120lb (shell) (main gun deck) (English pounds ??)
24 x 40lb (main gun deck) (26.5 British pounds)
30 x 20lb (second gun deck) (13.25 British pounds)
8 x 14lb (quarterdeck) (9 British pounds)
2 x 200lb (shell) (forecastle) (English Pounds??)

Broadside: 836lb + 3x 120lb shell and 1x 200lb shell (552.75 British pounds + Shells)

(sidenote: I will try investigate the shells and update later, as we don't have shells in the game I don't deem it super important)

Late Armament (1761 onwards):
28 x 40lb (26.5 British pounds)
28 x 30lb (20 British pounds)
14 x 14lb (9 British pounds)

Broadside: 1078lb (714 British Pounds)
 

66 Armament:
26 x 40lb (26.5 British pounds)
28 x 30lb (20 British pounds)
12 x 14lb (9 British pounds)

Broadside: 1024lb (678.5 British pounds)

Measurements:

Because of the different build periods and the little tweaks made, there are 3 different measurements to the class, similarly to the way Temeraire had slightly different models made within her class. Piedi is the Venetian foot.

First Series:
Length of Keel: 124 piedi (43.11m)
Length at Longest Point: 140.5 piedi (48.86m)
Width at Widest point: 37 piedi (12.85m)
Bilge Tip: 28.5 piedi (9.9m)
Draft: 18.5 piedi (6.43m)

Second Series:

Length of Keel: 122 piedi (42.38m)
Length at Longest Point: 142.47 piedi (49.5m)
Width at Widest point: 37 piedi (12.85)
Bilge Tip: 28.5 piedi (9.9m)
Draft: 18.5 piedi (6.43m)

Third and Fourth Series:
Length of Keel: 126  piedi (43.81m)
Length at Longest Point: 146.47 piedi (50.93)
Width at Widest point: 37 piedi (12.85)
Bilge Tip: 28.5 piedi (9.9m)
Draft: 18.5 piedi (6.43m)


Plans:

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(In Darker but slightly more bent form for those who might not see the lines above)


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Sail Plans

TKIslon.jpg

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Artwork

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kgPRzpH.jpg

UgB1jHc.jpg

As usual, I apologies for any distortion through page bending, I work to the best quality I can with the resources Available. Thank you for reading and getting down this far, I hope you enjoyed the essay and plan, again as usual I am more than happy to go into detail on any particular part if I can. :)

PS. Its your turn SteelSandwich, I'd like to see that dutch corvette post you were thinking of doing ;)

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.... wow. Just wow.

 

Absolute pleasure to read and view what you have collected and presented here :)

 

challenge gladly accepted!

 

I look forwards to reading it :)

 

I just love the lines of Venetian ships. They are a little lowboard but have such lovely lines

 

There is something really cool about how Venetian ships just look, there is that Italian design flair you still see happening in things like modern sports cars, you may have seen them already but there are two other in depth Venetian ships that have been presented, one by Sella22 and one other by myself. Check them out, they might be more of what you like.

Muiron: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/13834-le-muiron-venetianfrench-frigate-1797-with-plans/

Fama: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/16277-la-fama-venetian-4th-rate-1784-with-plans/

 

The Venetian lobby keeps growing everyday :D

 

Well its about time we got ourselves a Venetian ship in development, until then we will just have to keep raising a polite(angry) mob requesting it to happen :P

 

Now where are the models for the ship?  More ships is all ways better.

 

I did have a look on the internet to see if there were any models of any kind floating about, sadly I found none. Leon Trionfante does tick a couple of boxes for the devs though, its an older ship, which there aren't many in the game, she had an extensive use time, being used actively by 2 different navies, and inactively by a 3rd. She is a 70 gunner, which we don't have one of yet, so that might help things along too. We also don't have any Italian ships yet, although if I did get to personally pick one I would probably suggest Taking Fama or La Muiron before this one, even though I am quite fond of Leon Trionfante, we have more comprehensive plans and paint schemes for both those ships too. :)

 

Edited by Fluffy Fishy
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WE NEED IT, NOW!

 

Viva San Marco!!

 

(ps. This is did from a British thats doing me so proud of my bornplace origins)

Thank you :). Interestingly the painting is supposedly dated to 1710 by Caspar van Wittel (known to the Italians as Gaspare Vanvitelli) which cannot be true as the painting is very clearly of Leon Trionfante, the hull design is vastly different from the San Lorenzo Zustinian class and the only other ship built during this period was the Corona, a 74 which was not only launched a year too late for the dating but looked significantly different anyway. Caspar van Wittel was a dutch painter who was known for his grand tours, especially of the Italian region so during the research for this a little byproduct is that this painting needs re-dating as its currently incorrect.

Edited by Fluffy Fishy
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