Throughout the remainder of the 1770's both navies struggled with their various bureaucracies and command structures in the hopes of finding competent admirals. Howe, Kempenfelt, Keppel, and Rodney were enemies of the Tory administration and after 1778 refused to work under Sandwich, while the French suffered from a kind of administrative senility that restricted their promotion of able men. D'Orvilliers, d'Estaing, and desTouches each had their chance, proved incompetent or inept, and were dismissed. On the British side, Arbuthnot and Graves were tried and found wanting.
But still it was the French who produced the dominant commanders of the early 1700's, Suffren and de Grasse. Pierre-Andre Suffren de Saint-Tropez was a flamboyant character who had suffered through years of frustrating subordination to timid incompetents like d'Estaing. He offended his wellbred contemporaries by his gargantuan weight (330 pounds), his habit of never bathing, and his salty langauge. He had risen to command through his membership in the Knights of Malta and was therefore bound by an oath of celibacy, but had a mistress ashore and a number of pretty midshipmen, known as "Suffren's cuties", on the quarterdeck. He also promoted "campaign marriages" among the crews of his ships, allegedly to decrease the risk of venereal disease.
Suffren was a disciple of Morogues and the single, decisive attack. During his period of command in the East Indian station, including five actions fought against the English under Sir Edward Hughes, Suffren constantly strove to bring the weight of his line to bear against a portion of Hughes' squadron. These efforts were frustrated by Hughes, who though no genius was a competent enough seaman to keep a close line, and further frustrated by the fact that the exact tactical details for concentration against an enemy had not been worked out in practice, and - once again - by the incredible incompetence of the French captains.
Again and again Suffren would bring his fleet against the enemy, only to have his commanders botch the attack, refuse to close with the British, or hide behind friendly ships. Though Suffren set a good example by his aggressiveness and by the fact that he kept his squadron in constant fighting trim on a remote station for two years, mostly without the support from home and without a single base, his main influence was inspirational. Despite his odd theories of maintaining his crew's morale while isolated from women, Suffren led the French in caring for his crewmen and maintaining their health while on foreign station, in aggressiveness, and in tactical competence. Generations of French naval officers have tried to follow his example.
In 1788 Suffren, just before he was to take command of the Ponant fleet, was to die in a duel with the Prince de Mirepoix, one of the aristocratic officers he despised, over Suffren's dismissal of two inept officers. The ancien regime had its revenge on someone who dared to strive for competence.
France's other naval leading light was de Grasse, who took command of the Ponant fleet in February of 1781 and immediately sailed it for America. De Grasse was unique among French admirals in his willingness to work with the American rebels (d'Estaing had gone so far as to strand an American army on Rhode Island), and in fact in willingness to fight a battle at all. De Grasse was handed a victory by Graves at the Battle of the Chesapeake, in which Graves missed an opportunity to defeat the French in detail as they worked their way past Cape Henry, and then hesitated so long before attacking that his rear never properly engaged, while his van was thoroughly mauled by de Grasse and his well-ordered line. The battle ensured the fall of Yorktown, and guaranteed American independence.
A History of Sailing Tactics in the Age of Fighting Sail Part II
- Battle of Toulon and Minorca
Additional Instructions, Anson, and Hawke
Morogues, Villehuet, and Ushant
Signal Reform
DeGrasse and Suffern
A History of Sailing Tactics in the Age of Fighting Sail Part I
A History of Sailing Tactics in the Age of Fighting Sail Part III
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