Quote Originally Posted by TexaS View Post
I find that it is very common to over estimate how good the Santissima actually was.

Basically she was an experiment. The Spanish took one of their “standard” first rates and rebuilt her to have a forth gun deck. If this had been something very good they would have done it with more of their first rates, but it was basically a failure you couldn’t admit. She had no real advantage to the French first rates in any way. Weaker armament. Top heavy. Much worse to sail. I seriously doubt that she would be able to take more damage than a ship actually constructed to be of that size from the beginning. Due to har being a symbol she couldn’t be changed.

I don’t know if it’s a good idea to continue the myth and give people what they expect when talking about the the ship with the MOST guns in the wars, or to try to go realistically. I’m not sure if the Constitution got a realistic set of stats, but it reflected pretty well what people expect.
I'm with Jonas on this. My only concession is that I gave here the extra box of hull damage, because historically she always seemed to take a beating, but keep on going. I think if it weren't for the storm after Trafalgar, she would have survived to be a prize. However, I've never read any accounts of her laying waste with her 140! guns.