Plastic kit from Revell.  She was effectively the last galley built by France, launched around 1694 and became the flag ship of the French galley fleet, before the whole lot were laid up in 1720.

I say, that's brilliantly

Quote from: mad lemmey on 20 December 2018, 01:26:20 PM
I say, that's brilliantly...

...done.

Superb!

Very, very nice

It looks great, I had no idea that Galleys were still a thing so late on...

Very nice indeed

Take care

Andy

Quote from: FierceKitty on 20 December 2018, 01:58:34 PM
...done.

Perhaps Lemmey has been round many times before, like Trevor, and it's now catching up with him.

Damn fine job, on that.

Cheers - Phil

 

Muchos grassy ass for all the kind comments. Earlier statements were somewhat incorrect, La Reale was laid up in 1720, the galley fleet wasn't dispensed with until 1748.

Very nice work!

Was there a good reason for the French to have galleys at this point in history? Vanity project for the King, or something more sensible?

Galleys were cheaper to build and maintain than sailing warships and were useful as a counter to pirates. They needed less timber to build, were simple to design and they carried fewer guns. Flexible enough to be used for naval ambushes and amphibious operations. They needed fewer skilled seamen to operate, were difficult for sailing ships to catch and essential for hunting down and catching other galleys and oared raiders in shallow waters or conditions of little or no wind.

France and Spain had the largest galley fleets in the 17th century. By the 1650s, France had  become the most powerful state in Europe. It expanded its galley forces under the "Sun King" Louis XIV. By the 1690s the French "Corps des Galères" reached its zenith, with over 50 vessels manned by over 15,000 men and officers, the largest galley fleet in the world at the time.

Thanks Ithoriel - very informative 

Quote from: Ithoriel on 21 December 2018, 03:04:07 AM
Galleys were cheaper to build and maintain than sailing warships and were useful as a counter to pirates. They needed less timber to build, were simple to design and they carried fewer guns. Flexible enough to be used for naval ambushes and amphibious operations. They needed fewer skilled seamen to operate, were difficult for sailing ships to catch and essential for hunting down and catching other galleys and oared raiders in shallow waters or conditions of little or no wind.

France and Spain had the largest galley fleets in the 17th century. By the 1650s, France had  become the most powerful state in Europe. It expanded its galley forces under the "Sun King" Louis XIV. By the 1690s the French "Corps des Galères" reached its zenith, with over 50 vessels manned by over 15,000 men and officers, the largest galley fleet in the world at the time.

This is an accurate summary. Indeed the entire judicial and penal systems of France and Italy were geared to provide the human resources.  It was also the fate of Prisoners of War until the early 18th Century.
Some linguistic clues survive.  Do a google of the old Italian word for Gaol.  (galera = galley).