Most ships of the line at Barfleur carried far fewer guns than the largest later eighteenth-century fleets would normalize. Soleil Royal was an exceptional 104-gun flagship displacing about 1,630 tons. Her armament mixed 36-, 18-, 12-, 8-, and 4-pounder guns across the ship rather than relying on one uniform calibre. She had fought at Beachy Head before Barfleur, and her scale and symbolic value help explain why the pursuing Allies were so eager to take her.
Notable Point · 2:23:29-2:24:58
Soleil Royal as Tourville’s exceptional flagship
Tourville’s 104-gun Soleil Royal stood far above the common ship sizes of 1692, explaining both her prestige and the Allied determination to destroy or capture her.