Oriflamme was a 56-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was ordered on 16 February 1743 and built at Toulon Dockyard by engineer-constructor Pierre-Blaise Coulomb, and launched on 30 October 1744. She carried 24 x 18-pounder guns on her lower deck, 26 x 8-pounder guns on her upper deck, and 6 x 4-pounder guns on her quarterdeck (although the latter smaller guns were removed when she was rebuilt at Toulon from August 1756 to July 1757). The ship was named for the oriflamme, a long, multi-tailed red banner that was historically the battle standard of the Capetian dynasty. French career On 16 April 1746, Oriflamme recaptured the 24-gun frigate Volage, that the 70-gun HMS Stirling Castle had taken the day before. She narrowly survived one encounter with the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War, but was captured during a later engagement by HMS Isis off Cape Trafalgar, on 1 April 1761. She was not taken into British service but was used as a merchant ship, ending her days in Spanish service. She sailed on her last voyage in 1770, but her crew apparently succumbed to a plague and the ship was lost at sea. Following her reconstruction in 1756-57, the Oriflamme served during the Seven Years' War, and had an encounter with a superior British squadron in late February 1758, when she was chased off the Spanish coast by the 60-gun , under Captain Joshua Rowley and the 74-gun under Captain John Montagu. They chased Oriflamme onshore, but owing to Spain's neutrality at the time, did not attempt to destroy her, and Oriflamme was later salvaged. Oriflamme again encountered the British, this time when she was chased by the 50-gun , under Captain Edward Wheeler, off the Mediterranean coast of Morocco on 1 April 1761. The two engaged at 6pm, with Wheeler being killed early in the exchange of fire. Command then devolved to Lieutenant Cunningham, who on seeing that the French ship was trying to escape towards Spain, ran aboard her, and soon forced her to strike her colours. Oriflamme, which had been armed en flûte and was carrying between 40 and 50 guns during the action, had 50 killed and wounded from her complement of around 370. Isis had four killed, including Wheeler, and nine wounded. The captured Oriflamme was brought into Gibraltar. Spanish career Oriflamme was not brought into the Royal Navy, but