The Hermione was a 40-gun Hortense Class

Hortense class frigate

Jacques-Noël Sané designed the Hortense class 40-gun frigates of the French Navy in 1802. Seven frigates were built to this new design between 1803 and 1807. Of the seven, one was wrecked at sea and the British Royal Navy captured four, taking three into service.* HortenseJacques-Noël Sané designed...

 frigate of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

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Ordered by the Italian Republic as a gift to France under the name République Italienne, she was renamed to Hermione on 26 December 1803, to be launched in December 1804.

Under Captain Jean-Michel Mahé, she took part in the Battle of Cape Finisterre

Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)

In the Battle of Cape Finisterre off Galicia, Spain, the British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder fought an indecisive naval battle against the Combined Franco-Spanish fleet which was returning from the West Indies...

, in the Battle of Trafalgar

Battle of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

 and in Lamellerie's expedition.

Hermione was wrecked in August 1808. The wreck was discovered in 1972.