The destruction of the French officer Corp and gunners guild

[Joe]

Just reading about the negative effects the French Revolution had on its officer corp and that it was one reason they had a weak leadership chain on board ships.

Many of the of the officers we royalty, related to royalty or just connected through friendship and this brought them into conflict with Jacobins who loved their guillotine. Entire fleets lost their officers only to have them replaced with unqualified sailors or even men who had no expierence at all on board a ship.

I also found it interesting that the Gunners had what would losely be called a guild and this made them suspect as well and many of them lost lives or their position on board the ship.

I'm doing more research on how this effected the ships crews but from what I'm reading many of the crews fought through a fear of being labeled traitors to the revolution rather than a love for their country.

Mind you I'm not calling Frenchman cowards, far from it I'm just thinking out loud about how the revolution effected their navy.

[Aragorn]

Also, when the revolution was over and Napoleon came into power, the French Fleet became even worse.....he wasnt a big fan of the Navy and spent most of his time with the army and spendign money on the army while the Navy rotted away....

[Dagann]

Also, when the revolution was over and Napoleon came into power, the French Fleet became even worse.....he wasnt a big fan of the Navy and spent most of his time with the army and spendign money on the army while the Navy rotted away....

It's not true the french fleet became worse with Napoleon.   I would say its a cliché. No offense btw

When he came to power, the fleet was in pretty bad shape cause of the Revolution, as it was said in the 1st post.

He did a lot, trying to restore "La Royale" (french fleet) to the Louis XVI time level. Many ships where built under its reign.

But yes, he certainly did not do enough for the navy and made wrong choices.

With the so many hostile european countries at the french borders, priority was given to La Grande Armée.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Dagann

[Vander_Mitch]

It's not true the french fleet became worse with Napoleon.   I would say its a cliché. No offense btw

When he came to power, the fleet was in pretty bad shape cause of the Revolution, as it was said in the 1st post.

He did a lot, trying to restore "La Royale" (french fleet) to the Louis XVI time level. Many ships where built under its reign.

But yes, he certainly did not do enough for the navy and made wrong choices.

With the so many hostile european countries at the french borders, priority was given to La Grande Armée.

 

 

True, Napoleon was the heir of a heir to a dilapidated marine from the 100 years war and a mutual rancor with England

Because of his continental war strategy face him to a huge number country the need to focus more money the army oposed to the navy was understandable.

 

In comparaison, backed by huge amounts of money, Britain's wooden walls kept it safe from invasion and enabled it to build a trading empire and many warships.