The French began to build their fleet of the ships of the line after Louis XIV took effective power in 1661. His great minister Colbert was in control of the Navy from 1663. In order to rebuild the fleet, Colbert used the resources of Europe. He attracted shipwrights from Malta, Barcelona, Holland, and other shipbuilding centres. Great shipwrights such as Anthony Deane of England were used as occasional advisers.

A few large ships were built at Brest and Rochefort in the early 1660s, but the first real class of French ships of the line consisted of seven vessels built in Holland in 1666.

The first large three-decker, the Royal Louis was completed in Toulon in 1668, and was registered at two hundred tons. These ships were substantially larger than either the English or Dutch ones of similar gun power, and this made them good sailers, able to carry large quantities of stores for the crew.

Colbert created his first regulations dividing the fleet into Rates. The First Rate comprised the three-deckers, from 80 guns upwards. It contained the sub-division known as the “premier rang extraordinaire”, which included such vessels as the Royal Louis and the Soleil Royal.

The influence of the French Court on the arts during the reign of Louis XIV in the seventeenth century was considerable, but there was little similarity between the decorations of the French and British ships; of all the national styles, they were the least alike. One noteworthy exception was the practice of fitting open galleries or balconies, where the English followed the French.

The Royal Louis was a three-decker with 120 guns, making her a tremendous ship of the line. She was one of the very few first rates to carry bronze 48 pounders, making her one of the most powerful vessels belonging to the French Royal Navy at the time. She was an admiral ship of the blue and white squadron, being part of the American squadron, called the Earl D’Estaing’s.

The main equipment was made of thirty-two thirty-six ponders at the low battery, thirty-four thirty-two ponders at the second battery and thirty-two twelve ponders at the third battery.

The Royal Louis underwent several changes that changed both her hull line and her rigging. The most remarkable modification was the drastic lowering of her quarterdeck and the disappearance of the spirit-sail mast.

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