Superbe was built at Antwerp, in a late effort of the First French Empire to replenish the French Navy by using all available shipyards. Particularly well-built, to the point of being called the "nicest ship in the Navy", she became the only ship built at Antwerp to survive breaking up after the Bourbon Restoration.[1]
Superbe served in the Caribbean before returning to Brest to be put in the reserve in an inactive state.[1]
In 1833, Superbe served in the Mediterranean under Captain d'Oysonville. On 15 December 1833, she was caught in a storm in the Aegean Sea off Paros and ran aground at the entrance of Parekia harbour. The survivors returned to Toulon on the French Navy frigatesIphigénie and Galathée and the French ship Duquesne.[1]
Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 426. ISBN978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC165892922.