Winchester College Publication Formidable | Page 3

The Seven Years War (1756-1763)
F
ormidable was an 80-gun, two-decker ship of the line
of the French navy, launched in 1751. It was one of
several ships built to strengthen the French fleet after its
embarrassing failure during the War of Austrian
Succession (1740-1748), when it was outnumbered and
outmanoeuvred by the British. Between 1749 and 1754
the French launched 34 ships of the line (compared to
26 Spanish and 15 British), bringing its total strength up
to nearly 60 ships. However, Formidable was one of only
four new 80-gun ships able to match the most powerful
vessels in the British fleet, which had 90 or 100 guns.
Formidable first saw action in the Seven Years War
(1756-1763), a global conflict fought over Austria’s
attempt to recover Silesia from Prussia, and over
European possessions in India and North America.
Britain and Prussia formed an alliance against France,
Austria and Russia, the other three Great Powers. In the
early stages of the war, Formidable fought off the coast
of America. In the summer and autumn of 1759, she
formed part of the French Atlantic fleet at Brest under
the command of Marshal de Conflans. The fleet had
gathered to escort a planned invasion of Britain. There
were 17,000 troops stationed nearby at Vannes and nearly
a hundred transport ships around the Loire estuary. The
Western Squadron of the British navy, commanded by
Sir Edward Hawke, kept a close blockade around Brest,
restricting the movements of the French.
A set of battle orders printed for the Atlantic Fleet in 1759, purchased for the Fellows’
Library by the Friends of Winchester College in 2019. The positions of each ship were
added in by hand a few days before the battle of Quiberon Bay. Formidable is the third
ship listed on this page.
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