Book review THE SUN KING´S VESSELS / VAISSEAUX DU ROI SOLEIL" by J.C. Lemineur

Uwek

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Book Review:
THE SUN KING´S VESSELS / THE SHIPS OF THE SUN KING
french original title: VAISSEAUX DU ROI SOLEIL
by J.C. Lemineur
translated by Francois Fougerat

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available in the original french edition, or in english or italian language - My copy is the english version

The author presents the creation and evolution of Louis XIV’s navy in an historical context.
The fruit of many long years of archival research working with primary sources, its invaluable contents are an essential reference work of French naval history.


Format:

23 x 31cm format, sewn section with headband.
Laminated inside dust jacket, with a four-color illustration of the ship Le Soleil Royal.
248 pages, 135 gr paper, with 126 illustrations and 30 tables.
3 four-color inset plates reproducing the illustration on the dust jacket.

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SYNOPSIS:

The glorious title of this volume guarantees that its contents will not disappoint our readers.

The author presents the creation and evolution of Louis XIV's navy in an historical context. The fruit of many long years of archival research working with primary sources, its invaluable contents are an essential reference work of French naval history. We present its table of contents for your examination. In his introduction, Jean-Claude Lemineur explains his choice to focus the volume on those ships, especially three deckers, which were selected to form the first line of battle. This is but one aspect, however, of an enormous project involving commentary and original analyses by the author.

The first study of Louis XIV's navy takes its place as the culmination of our French Naval Archeology Collection. We hope that we have accomplished the task we set ourselves and have introduced a wider audience to the importance of French naval architecture in our cultural heritage.

The Forewords by the author

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and also by Jean Boudriot

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CONTENTS:

Chapter I : The War-Ship - The Sailing Vessel of Naval Armies

The line-of-battle combat: a well-suited tactic
The sailing ship - originally a merchant ship
Evolution of naval forces during the first half of the 17th century.
Criteria of a war ship.
Organization and structure of naval armies during the second half of the 17th century.

Chapter II : Naval Shipbuilding under Louis XIV
The King's first navy : building without real guidelines.
Royal establishments: a late attempt at standardization.
From the regulations of 1670, 1671 and 1673 to the establishment of 1689: the navy in transition.
Louis XIV's second navy.
A Navy without a future.
The ordinance of 1689 on naval construction : a completely ignored statute.

Consideration on Decoration

Chapter III : Naval artillery under Louis XIV
.
The state of artillery in 1661.
Developments in artillery after 1661.
Evolution of firepower.
Characteristics of on-board artillery.

Chapter IV : The organization of batteries.
The supremacy of the three-decker in the line of battle.
Characteristics of three-decker ships with more than 70 guns in 1671.
Characteristics of three-decker ships with fewer than 70 guns.
50-gun three deckers in foreign navies.
A comparison of fire power between two-decker and three-decker ships.
Accommodations on three deckers and two deckers.
Full and broken decks.
Elimination of the third deck on 56-gun ships after 1671.
Elimination of the third deck on 66-gun ships.
The third deck on ships over 70-guns.

Chapter V: Typical evolution
Overview.
The 56-gun ship fitted with 12 gunports.
The 56-gun ship fitted with 13 gunports.
The 66-gun ship fitted with 13 gunports.
The 76-gun ship fitted with 14 gunports.
The 80-gun ship fitted with 14 gunports.
From 90- to 100-gun ships fitted for 15 gunports
Ships equipped with over 100 guns.
A note on the occurrence of the different types.


Look Inside:

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Some more in the following post
 

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Last edited:
Great review Uwe

I bought the English edition and it is a great book.My one criticism is that apparently the original print came with a full side elevation of the Soleil Royal inside the sleeve.The reprint does not.

Kind Regards

Nigel
 
Great review Uwe

I bought the English edition and it is a great book.My one criticism is that apparently the original print came with a full side elevation of the Soleil Royal inside the sleeve.The reprint does not.

Kind Regards

Nigel
Would you mind saying where you were able to find the English translation? All I can find (and only at Abe Books) is the French version at a cost of $215.
Flying-Pigeon (Jim)
 
Would you mind saying where you were able to find the English translation? All I can find (and only at Abe Books) is the French version at a cost of $215.
Flying-Pigeon (Jim)
In the first post of this book review you can find the link to ancre-web-page. There you can order the english version

 
Hi,Uwe
Is there any construction drawings in this book?
Best regards
Yuhong
 
Hi,Uwe
Is there any construction drawings in this book?
Best regards
Yuhong
No drawings attached to this book. The book is describing the navy at this time in detail, but all ships of this period
 
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