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The ''Hermione'' was a 12-pounder ''Concorde'' class frigate of the French Navy. She became famous when she ferried General Lafayette to the United States in 1780 for support to the rebels in the American Revolutionary War. She grounded and was wrecked in 1793. In 1997, construction of a replica ship started in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France; the new ship is likewise named ''Hermione''. ==Career== ''Hermione'' was built in eleven months at Rochefort, by the shipwright Henri Chevillard as a light ((フランス語:légère)) frigate, fast and maneuverable. Between May and December 1779 she underwent successful sea trials in the Gulf of Gascony under the command of Lieutenant de Latouche. General La Fayette embarked at Rochefort on 11 March 1780 and arrived in Boston on 28 April carrying the secret news that he had secured French reinforcements (5,500 men and 5 frigates) for George Washington. After the dramatic failure of the Penobscot Expedition, a large military expedition to dislodge the British from their new stronghold at the confluence of the Bagaduce and the Penobscot River on the east bank of Penobscot Bay in Maine (an area later known as Castine), the revolutionary council of Massachusetts asked Latouche if he would be willing to sail to Penobscot Bay for a quick military intelligence-gathering cruise, checking on the strength of the British garrison at Fort George. The Hermione then made the week-long voyage in mid-May, after which the frigate sailed to Rhode Island.〔Samuel Cooper, letter 23 May 1780, in Papers of John Adams, Vol.9〕 Next, she got underway again on 2 June and suffered serious damage in the fierce but indecisive Action of 7 June 1780 against the 32-gun HMS ''Iris'', under James Hawker. ''Hermione'' received the American Congress on board in May 1781. She fought several times in company with the ''Astrée'', commanded by Lapérouse, especially at the Naval battle of Louisbourg on 21 July 1781. After the end of the American Revolutionary War, ''Hermione'' returned to France in February 1782. She then formed part of a squadron sent to India to help Suffren against the British. However peace was declared and the ship returned to Rochefort in April 1784. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「French frigate Hermione (1779)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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