Ponant Fleet

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The Ponant Fleet (French: Flotte du Ponant) was the designation under the Ancien Regime for the naval vessels of the Royal French Navy in the English Channel, Atlantic Ocean and Americas, the latter principally in the French West Indies and New France. The fleet carried out operations such as asserting naval supremacy and protecting convoys. Its counterpart was the Levant Fleet, based in the Mediterranean Sea.

Ponant Fleet
The Brest Arsenal in 1776
By Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe
(1716 - 1794)
Active1669 – 1792
CountryKingdom of France
BranchRoyal French Navy
TypeNaval fleet
RoleNaval operations in the English Channel, Atlantic Ocean and Americas
Garrison/HQArsenal of Brest, Le Havre, Rochefort, Lorient, Cherbourg and Brouage
EngagementsFranco-Dutch War
Nine Years' War
War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
Seven Years' War
American War of Independence

Arsenals

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The Flotte du Ponant was created by Cardinal Richelieu (A former Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom in 1629). The fleet initially had three principal bases: Le Havre, Arsenal of Brest and Hiers-Brouage. Under Louis XIV, the arsenal of Brest was the principal base, supported by the arsenals of Rochefort and Lorient. Under Louis XVI the military port of Cherbourg was developed, with some elements only were recently completed on the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Flagships

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The fleet flagship was the most powerful ship at Brest. A number of different ships served in this role during the fleet's existence:

Vice-admirals

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The first commander of what became the Flotte du Ponant was Aymar de Clermont-Chaste-Gessans, who was appointed Vice-admiral of Les Mers du Ponant. The command of the Levant and du Ponant fleets were entrusted on 12 November 1669 to two vice-admirals. The vice-admirals of the du Ponant fleet were:

Name Portrait Tenure Note
Jean II d'Estrées
Count d'Estrées
(1624-1707)
  1669–1707 Tenure at age 45 until his death in 1707
Victor-Marie d'Estrées
(son of Jean II d'Estrées)
(1660-1737)
  1707-1737  
Tenure at age 46 until 1737
Antoine François de Pardaillan de Gondrin [fr]
Marquis d' Antin
(1709-1741)
- (1737-1741)  
Tenure at age 28 until 1741
François de Bricqueville [fr]
Count de La Luzerne
(1665-1746)
- (1741-1746) Tenure at age 79 until 1746
Claude-Élisée de Court de La Bruyère
(1666-1752)
- 1750-1752 Admiral aboard the Terrible in 1744, flying the flag of a Lieutenant-General of the naval forces
Vice-Admiral tenure at age 84 in 1750 until 1752
François-Cornil Bart
(son of Jean Bart)
(1677-1755)
  1752-1755  
Tenure at age 75
Charles-Félix de Poilvilain [fr]
Count de Cresnay
(1693-1756)
- 1755-1756 Tenure at the age of 62 until 1756
Jean-Baptiste Mac Nemara
Irish descendant
(1687-1756)
- 1756-1756 Tenure at age 66 and died the second day after his nomination
Hubert de Brienne
Count de Brienne
(1690-1777)
- 1756-1777  
 
Tenure at age 66 until 1777
Joseph de Bauffremont
(1714-1781)
  1777-1781  
Tenure at age 63 until 1781
Paul-Hippolyte de Beauvilliers [fr]
Marquis de La Ferté-Saint-Aignan
(1712-1788)
- 1781-1788  
Tenure at age 69 until 1788
Pierre-Antoine de Raymond, bailli d'Éoux - 1788-1792 Tenure at age 82 until 1792

Although Jean II d'Estrées commanded the fleet during the battles of the reign of Louis XIV, his successors were too old to have likely served at sea. In practice, the squadrons at sea were under officers with the rank of Lieutenant général des Armées navales.

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General view of Brest in 1793, during the French Revolution.

Naval administration was under the authority of a Secretary of the State in 1626, the same year Cardinal Richelieu was designated as grand master of navigation. The two fleets were combined in 1642, then split in 1661. The two fleets were administered by Jean-Baptiste Colbert after 1662, during his tenure as intendant of finance and state minister, then secretary of State in 1669. A secretary of state held responsibility for the navy thereafter, until the French Revolution.

The state secretary of the navy was the administrator responsible for the French royal naval fleet and the civilian naval component, the commercial trade fleet. The secretary therefore administered both naval fleets and merchant fleets, the naval bases, the diplomatic consulates, the colonies and the French East India Company.

Other departments and bureaux were added to fleet administration over time.

  • archive department, 1669;
  • consulate bureau of Ponant, 1709;
  • colonies bureau, 1710;
  • class bureau, 1711;
  • department for maps and plans, 1720;
  • consulate bureau of the Levant, 1738, which merged in 1743 with the consulate bureau of Ponant under the designation of commerce and consulates bureau.

These different bureaux and departments were regrouped in four grand directorates by Marshal Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix in 1786.

During the French Revolution, the Flotte du Ponant was renamed the "Atlantic Squadron" (Escadre de l'Atlantique), and then the "Ocean Fleet" (Flotte de l'Océan).

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