French Imperial Navy
French Imperial Navy | |
---|---|
Marine Impériale | |
Napoleon Bonaparte | |
Active | 1804 –
Napoleon I |
Type | Naval forces |
Navy Headquarters | Hôtel de la Marine, Paris |
Colors | Le Tricolore |
Engagements | |
Commanders | |
Napoleon I | |
Notable commanders |
|
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (November 2021) |
The French Imperial Navy (
History
Fleet of the Restoration
In 1789 the
The way the French fleet was officered and manned was somewhat different to that of the Royal British Navy. In the 1780s the officer corps was filled almost exclusively by the sons of noble families. Indeed, to become a Student of the Navy (Elève de la Marine) (the equivalent of a Midshipman in the British Royal Navy), the young aspiring officer had to apply with a certified copy of his family genealogy to ensure that he had the required amount of 'blue blood'. This system, which ensured officer positions for the nobility, nevertheless produced good officers since they were highly trained. Its evil lay in the unfairness to qualified men condemned to the lower deck or the merchant marine because they were not of noble blood. Because of this lacking hope, bitterness increased dramatically both in the army and the navy.[2]
In 1789 the French navy had three main military seaports:
Napoleon's reforms
Napoleon has often been considered to misunderstand the navy. Being an artillery officer, he was given to precise calculations and never quite accepted that the wind was more important to ships than his orders. His impatience at his fleet at Boulogne is famous. Much less known but just as important were his naïve pragmatic measures toward the fleet taken during 1800–1801. In a general reform, a mass of individuals notable for their 'crass ignorance' were kicked out of the navy and the ranks opened to anyone with decent qualifications, including former officers of the
However, a good navy takes many years to build, not only ships, but an ample reserve of skilled officers and sailors. At first, Napoleon wrongly presumed that uniting the fleets of
Trafalgar Campaign
Initial Plans & Changes
Battle and Campaign
Villeneuve's fleet underwent repairs in Cádiz, covered by a hastily assembled blockade of British warships, initially commanded by Rear-Admiral
Napoleon, increasingly dissatisfied with Villeneuve's performance, ordered Vice-Admiral
Aftermath
By early November the combined fleet had been practically destroyed. Two ships of the line had been lost at Finisterre, twenty-one at Trafalgar and in the ensuing storm, and four at Cape Ortegal. No British ships had been lost in these engagements. Many of those that had survived in French or Spanish hands were badly damaged and would not be ready for service for some time. The British victory gave them unchallenged supremacy of the seas, securing British trade and sustaining the Empire.[12]
After 1805 the morale of the French navy was destroyed, while its continued blockade in port robbed it of efficiency and will. While Napoleon returned to the possibility of an invasion some years later, it was never with the same focus or determination. The failure of his navy to fulfil its objectives left him disillusioned, while the timidity of its commanders and the determination of the British to resist them, both factors clearly expressed at various stages throughout the Trafalgar campaign, left the navy with a lack of purpose and direction.[13]
After Trafalgar
Napoleon found himself with weak and demoralised remnants of a high-seas fleet and flotilla. The
By 1811 the programme was running smoothly and six to seven ships of the line from 74 to 118 guns were launched every year until Napoleon abdicated in 1814. The French fleet then had 81 ships of the line with 18 more under construction. There were also about 100 frigates afloat or under construction at that date. In time, given good leadership and opportunity, there is no doubt that this new fleet would have united and challenged the British Royal Navy. Instead, many of these new ships were dispersed or destroyed by the allies as they occupied the French naval bases during the summer of 1814. This third blow–the first had been the Revolution, the second Trafalgar–was to be fatal for the French navy. Not until the second half of the 19th century would France have a powerful battle fleet again.[14]
Ministers of the Marine
Portrait | Minister name[a] | Term | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||
Denis, Duc de Decrès | 2 December 1804[b] | 1 April 1814 | 9 years, 120 days | |
Pierre Victor, Baron de Malouet | 3 April 1814 | 11 April 1815[c]
|
8 days | |
Denis, Duc de Decrès | 20 March 1815 | 7 July 1815 | 109 days |
Organisation
Because so many formations were formed and disbanded several times, effectively ad-hoc commands, only the permanent or long-lived formations are listed below:
Pre-Revolution
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History of the "Two Fleets System", and the reorganisations into squadrons here.
Squadrons
- Atlantic Fleet – those squadrons attached to the old Atlantic Fleet
- Brest Squadron, at the Brest Arsenal, Brest
- Cherbourg Squadron, at the Cherbourg Arsenal, Cherbourg
- Escaut Squadron, at the Antwerp Arsenal, Antwerp
- Lorient Squadron, at the Lorient Arsenal, Lorient
- Rochefort Squadron, at the Rochefort Arsenal, Rochefort
- Mediterranean Fleet – those squadrons attached to the old Mediterranean Fleet
- Toulon Squadron, at the Toulon Arsenal, Toulon
- Aegean Sea Squadron, at Corfu, French Ionian Islands
- Toulon Squadron, at the
- Overseas Fleet – those squadrons deployed Overseas to the colonies
- Windward Islands (West Indies) Squadron, at Fort Saint Louis, Martinique
- East Indies Ocean (East Indies) Squadron, in Pondichéry, French India
The 'Naval Corps' was the name given to the branch of the navy which oversaw the sailors, naval troops, and colonial troops.
List of ships
Footnotes
Notes
- ^ Titles of members are shown as they appear by the end of their term.
- ^ Denis Decrès had held this position since 3 October 1801 under the Consulate
- ^ Malouet would keep the position of Minister of the Navy till 7 September 1814. However, because this went beyond Napoleon's abdication, it is not listed here.
Citations
- ^ Chartrand, pp. 5–6
- ^ a b Chartrand, pp. 7–8
- ^ a b Chartrand, pp. 16–17
- ^ Best. Trafalgar. p. 15.
- ^ Best. Trafalgar. p. 43.
- ^ Best. Trafalgar. pp. 55–7.
- ^ a b Hibbert. Nelson, A Personal History. p. 362.
- ^ Hibbert. Nelson, A Personal History. p. 360.
- ^ Adkin. The Trafalgar Companion. p. 411.
- ^ Hibbert. Nelson, A Personal History. p. 363.
- ^ Adkin. The Trafalgar Companion. p. 528.
- ^ Clayton & Craig. Trafalgar. p. 372.
- ^ Mostert. The Line Upon the Wind. p. 515.
- ^ a b Chartrand, pp. 19–20
References
- Adkin, Mark (2007). The Trafalgar Companion: A Guide to History's Most Famous Sea Battle and the Life of Admiral Lord Nelson. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-84513-018-3.
- Best, Nicholas (2005). Trafalgar: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sea Battle in History. London: Phoenix. ISBN 0-7538-2095-1.
- Chartrand, René (1990). Napoleon's Sea Soldiers. Osprey Military Publishing. OCLC 937697860.
- Clayton, Tim; Craig, Phil (2004). Trafalgar: The Men, The Battle, The Storm. London: Hodder. ISBN 0-340-83028-X.
- ISBN 0-201-40800-7.
- Mostert, Noel (2008). The Line Upon a Wind: The Greatest War Fought At Sea Under Sail: 1793–1815. London: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-7126-0927-2.
- Smith, Digby (1998). The Greenhill Napoleonic wars data book. London Mechanicsburg, PA: Greenhill Books Stackpole Books. OCLC 37616149.