French frigate Junon (1778)
French frigate, 18th century French warship
Junon was a 32-gun Charmante-class frigate of the French Navy.
Career
Junon took part in the Battle of Ushant under Louis Guillouet, comte d'Orvilliers. She captured the 28-gun HMS Fox on 11 September 1778. Junon tried unsuccessfully to rake Fox from astern but then closed and the two ships exchanged broadsides; Junon fired into Fox's hull rather than at her rigging and managed to topple all three masts and cause significant casualties before Fox surrendered.
On 17 August 1779, under captain Charles de Bernard de Marigny and along with Gentille, she captured the 64-gun third rate HMS Ardent after posing as a British frigate but then hoisting French colors and firing several unanswered broadsides into the larger vessel. On 13 September 1780, under Lieutenant Kergariou Locmaria, she captured the 18-gun naval sloop HMS Rover after an overnight chase and a fierce firefight that destroyed Rover's rigging.
In October 1780, Junon sailed from Martinique to St. Vincent towing a schooner to deliver hospital supplies to the island, which had recently come under French control. Junon anchored beneath the cliffs in Kingstown Harbour and, due to a broken barometer, had no warning when the island was struck by a hurricane. The massive storm, known as the Great Hurricane of 1780, battered the frigate against the cliffs and caused her to sink on 11 October 1780, although her captain managed to lead the entire crew off the ship and up the cliffs in safety.
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