French ship Ville de Paris (1764)
Ville de Paris was a large three-decker French ship of the line that became famous as the flagship of De Grasse during the American Revolutionary War. Career Originally laid down in 1757 as the 90-gun Impétueux, she was funded by the City of Paris and renamed Ville de Paris in 1762 as a result of the don des vaisseaux, Duc de Choiseul’s campaign to raise funds for the navy from the cities and provinces of France. She was completed in 1764 as a 90-gun first rate, just too late to serve in the Seven Years' War. She was one of the first three-deckers to be completed for the French navy since the 1720s. In 1778, on the French entry into the American Revolutionary War she was commissioned at Brest, joining the fleet as the flagship of Guichen. In July she fought in the indecisive Battle of Ushant (1778). At some point during the next two years, she had an additional 14 small guns mounted on her previously unarmed quarterdeck, making her a 104-gun ship. In 1779, she was the flagship of a division under Duchaffault, part of the Armada of 1779. In March 1781 she sailed for the West Indies