Lion was a Téméraire class 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the French Navy, which later served in the Royal Navy. She was named Lion on 23 April 1790 and built at Rochefort from August 1791 until June 1794. She was renamed Marat on 28 September 1793 and then Formidable on 25 May 1795, with the changing fortunes of the French Revolution.
HMS Belleisle after the Battle of Trafalgar
Belleisle, fifteen minutes past noon at Trafalgar
The dismasted Belleisle later on in the battle
Téméraire-class ship of the line
The Téméraire-class ships of the line were a class of a hundred and twenty 74-gun ships of the line ordered between 1782 and 1813 for the French navy or its attached navies in dependent (French-occupied) territories. Although a few of these were cancelled, the type was and remains the most numerous class of capital ship ever built to a single design.
Scale model of Achille, a typical French seventy-four of the Téméraire class at the beginning of the 19th century.
Fight of the Poursuivante against the British ship HMS Hercules, 28 June 1803
Stern of a model of the Triomphant
Battle between the French warship Droits de l'Homme and the British frigates Amazon (right) and Indefatigable (left), 13 & 14 January 1797.