The Sans-Pareil ("No-such") was a ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 project presented to Louis XV

Louis XV of France

Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...

 between 1757 and 1760. No actual ship 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...

 bore the name, though the Royal Louis

French ship Royal Louis (1758)

The Royal Louis was a first-rate 116-gun ship of the line of the Royal French Navy, built in 1757-59 by Jacques-Luc Coulomb at Brest. She was the fourth ship to bear the name, and the only ship of the Sans-Pareil design ever built....

was built on the scheme.

Evolution of the capital ships

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the size and power of the main capital ship was subject to a notable increase. The ships inflated from 50 guns and 300 men to 120 guns and 1,200 men, though most of the fleet was composed of the more reasonable 64-gun, 74-gun

Seventy-four (ship)

The "seventy-four" was a type of two-decked sailing ship of the line nominally carrying 74 guns. Originally developed by the French Navy in the mid-18th century, the design proved to be a good balance between firepower and sailing qualities, and was adopted by the British Royal Navy , as well as...

 and 80-gun two-decker ships, the three-deckers being typically the flagships.

On the other hand, the artillery techniques undertook no significant improvement, with the old smooth-bore pieces, and a practical range of about 500 to 600 metres.

A typical 108-gun ship of the time was about 56 metres long at the waterline

Waterline

The term "waterline" generally refers to the line where the hull of a ship meets the water surface. It is also the name of a special marking, also known as the national Load Line or Plimsoll Line, to be positioned amidships, that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship...

, 16.5 metres wide, 20 metres high (hull) and carry two 990 square-metre sails.

The Sans-Pareil project

The Sans-Pareil was a project to built a series of ships taking into account new improvements in ship design. The name was suggested twice to Louis XV; in 1751, the king preferred Océan, and in 1757, Royal-Louis, Médiateur, Majestueux, and Indomptable. Only the Royal-Louis was actually built; due to the huge costs of construction, the three others were replaced with smaller-sized ships of the line.

The Sans-Pareil only existed as a 1/30th model which is now kept at the Musée de la Marine in Paris. It is very likely to offer only very minor differences to what the Royal-Louis was like when she was launched in Brest

Brest, France

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

 in 1759.

The figurehead

Figurehead

A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and 19th century.-History:Although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and...

featured a lion. The ornaments of the aft were simplified, integrating the overall lines and structure of the ship.