L'Orient was Napoleon's flagship at the Battle of the Nile, fought in Aboukir Bay on 1–2 August 1798.
The enormous French first-rate ship of the line carried 118 guns and served as the flagship of Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, whose fleet had transported Napoleon's expeditionary army to Egypt. Napoleon himself was not the naval commander, but the fleet operated in support of his invasion and remained strategically vital to the campaign.
During the battle, L'Orient anchored at the centre of the French line. British ships attacked from both sides, and the ship caught fire late on 1 August. Its magazine exploded around 10 p.m., destroying the vessel in one of the most famous images of the Napoleonic Wars. The blast also killed Brueys and intensified the French defeat.
A common mix-up is to confuse L'Orient with HMS Vanguard, Nelson's flagship, or with French ships such as Tonnant. L'Orient had previously been named Dauphin Royal and Sans-Culotte before Napoleon renamed it shortly before the Egyptian expedition.