#French Navy

[nanou-the-owl]

I was in the French Navy when I was in my twenties. I stayed there for 10 years during wich I did two on-board assignents over a total duration of 5 years, including two world tours and an operational mission.

The beautiful French frigate L'Hermione from 1780, sailing in line astern behind a modern French Aquitaine class frigate Provence, 2015

[godwantsit]

[usafphantom4]

The magnificent Latécoère "Laté 631". Here n°02, took to the skies at the beginning of 1945, bearing the name ‘Lionel de Marnier’ in reference to the founder of the ‘Lorraine’ group who disappeared at sea in December 1944.

@AviationMarlene via X

[ghostwarriorrrr]

[flagbridge]

The Raoul (de Chagny) Navy: An Exploration of the Vicomte's Naval Background:

Our beloved Vicomte, Raoul de Chagny, is a young junior officer in the French Navy ("le Royale"), but this hardly gets much exploration. It's a detail that is often glossed over--I anticipate because Naval historians and Phans often do not have much Venn diagram overlap--until now. Let's just say my username is a Naval reference.

Note: the "Raoul Navy" is not my invention--our hilarious and wise "Phantom Dark Web" friends at Leroux Less Traveled (incl. @box5intern) came up with it, and I love it.

I've started digging into book Raoul and his Naval background and turns out we are missing out a whole lot about Raoul's character background if we don't dig into it. So I'm going to tell you what the book tells us and what that means. I'm going to give you the overall pieces up front, and then explain:

Raoul looks very young and feminine (except for his "little" mustache, which he effectively has grown to prove that he can)--and everyone treats him like a baby

Raoul at this point has already completed three years of Naval training including a world tour, so he is fairly experienced and even worldly for his age. He is described in the French as a "cadet", but he would likely be a sub-lieutenant at this point since he has graduated from the Naval Academy.

He's on a six month leave before going on a very dangerous mission to recover remains of a lost Arctic mission--a mission he himself is unlikely to return from.

And everyone still treats him like he's a baby (especially the old dowager widows), even though he has had quite a bit of life at this point--so he has something to prove.

What we know about Raoul and the Navy (Here is the English):

"He was admirably assisted in this work first by his sisters and afterward by an old aunt, the widow of a naval officer, who lived at Brest and gave young Raoul a taste for the sea. The lad entered the Borda training-ship, finished his course with honors and quietly made his trip round the world. Thanks to powerful influence, he had just been appointed a member of the official expedition on board the Requin, which was to be sent to the Arctic Circle in search of the survivors of the D'Artois expedition, of whom nothing had been heard for three years. Meanwhile, he was enjoying a long furlough which would not be over for six months; and already the dowagers of the Faubourg Saint-Germain were pitying the handsome and apparently delicate stripling for the hard work in store for him."

We also learn in another paragraph that the de Chagnys had admiral in the family, so the Naval connection is likely a family business for second sons. Raoul is a second son, so a career as a military officer would have been a distinguished career for him.

Borda: First ship

Brest is the main port of the French Navy and home of the Ecole Navale (or French Naval Academy. In the 20th Century it moved, but Brest is still, along with Toulon, a major naval base)

According to the French: Le jeune homme entra au Borda, en sortit dans les premiers numéros et accomplit tranquillement son tour du monde (Note that the French calls him a "young man", not a lad)

The Borda is traditionally the training ship of the French Navy, and there have been six of them. This would have been a cadet/midshipman cruise for Raoul. He would have been on the ex-Valmy, an 120-gun ship of the line, which became the Borda training ship in 1864.

The Borda is also the ship of the Ecole Navale (French Naval Academy)—this means that Raoul attended the academy.

The Naval Academy is two years in Brest, and then their third year is the World Tour—so that timing also aligns with where we are in the book. Raoul would have begun at the academy at 18, and he is at the start of the book, 21 years old.

After the Borda, which he completed with honors, he did an uneventful world tour.

This would have been his third year, still as a midshipman.

He could have been assigned to any ship for this training cruise—possibly a cruiser (the d'Estang is pictured below in 1884 in Algiers), which did long range missions. Note: Their max speed was about 15 Knots (which is a very respectable speed that some warships still transit).

This world tour cold have been as far east as what is now Vietnam, or through the Suez--but likely near French colonies.

With influence, he is assigned to the Requin expedition.

French: Grâce à de puissants appuis, il venait d'être désigné pour faire partie de l'expédition officielle du Requin, qui avait mission de rechercher dans les glaces du pôle les survivants de l'expédition du d'Artois, dont on n'avait pas de nouvelles depuis trois ans.

The Requin was a real ship in the Mediterranean fleet, but did not go on its first mission until 1885, which means that this is a deliberate or unintentional oversight of either Leroux himself or his narrator. The Requin was a steel hull—and the Artois was actually a 18th century Royal Navy ship so this piece is a complete fabrication. However, Arctic missions at this time were frequent and tended not to go well.

However, Raoul could also be excited about getting to go on a new steel-hulled ship. The Redoutable was already in commission—commissioned in 1876.  Most of the rest of the fleet at this point were ironclads.

[sabotpetal]

French F-8 Crusader caught by carrier arresting gear on landing

[lonestarbattleship]

The damaged French Battleship Jean Bart at Casablanca Harbor, Morocco, during the first days of the U.S. campaign in North Africa.

Date: November 8-16, 1942

Naval History and Heritage Command: 80-G-19918

[usafphantom2]

Rafale m

@VladWlad777 via X

[clove-pinks]

1840s French navy ships by Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio, all from 1844: Sixty-meter Frigate/Frégate de 60, War Schooner/Goëlette de guerre, Corvette, War Brig/Brick de guerre, Steamboat Outfitted for Battle/Bateau à vapeur armé en guerre, and First Class Ship/Vaisseau de 1.er rang.

@ltwilliammowett

[carbone14]

Le porte-avions La Fayette (ex USS Langley) de la marine française prêt à catapulter un bombardier-torpilleur Grumman TBM-3E Avenger - 1950's

©Naval History and Heritage Command - NH 92501

[ripstefano]

Engagement between HMS Amelia and French frigate l’Arethuse, off the Isles of Loss, 1813

Thomas Whitcombe (English, 1763–1824)

What’s this, a boat? Ship, as some may call it. Wait, I can post about the navy?

[godwantsit]

[ltwilliammowett]

Uniform coat of an officer of the French Navy, 1852-1870

[ghostwarriorrrr]

[judgemark45]

French battleship Richelieu !

[herprivateswe]

IWM (Q 80578) Repairing masts of the French battleship CONDORCET at Toulon, 17 October 1916.