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{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name                     = French Imperial Navy
| native_name                   = Marine Impériale
| image                         = Emblem of Napoleon Bonaparte.svg
| image_size                    = 100px
| caption                       = Emblem of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]
| dates                         = 1804 –
[[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1814)|1814]]<br />[[Hundred Days|1815]]
| country                       = {{flagicon|France|1813}} [[First French Empire|French Empire]]
| allegiance                    = [[File:Grandes Armes Impériales (1804-1815)2.svg|25px]] [[Napoleon I]]
| type                          = [[Navy|Naval forces]]
| garrison                      = [[Hôtel de la Marine]], [[Paris]]
| garrison_label                = Navy Headquarters
| colors                        = ''[[Flag of France|Le Tricolore]]''
| battles                       = {{Tree list}}
* [[Napoleonic Wars]]
** [[Naval campaigns, operations and battles of the Napoleonic Wars|Naval Campaigns]]
{{Tree list/end}}
| commander1                    = [[Napoleon I]]
| commander1_label              = [[Commander-in-chief|Supreme Commander]]
| notable_commanders            = * [[Julien Cosmao]]
* [[Denis Decrès]]
* [[Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume]]
* [[Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse]]
* [[Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville]]
* [[Jean Jacques Étienne Lucas]]
* [[Pierre Martin (French Navy officer)|Pierre Martin]]
* [[François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros]]
* [[Édouard Thomas Burgues de Missiessy]]
* [[Albin Roussin]]
* [[Pierre César Charles de Sercey]]
* [[Antoine-Jean-Marie Thévenard]]
* [[Laurent Jean François Truguet]]
* [[Pierre-Charles Villeneuve]]
* [[Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez]]
}}
{{Lead too short|date=November 2021}}
The '''French Imperial Navy''' ({{Langx|fr|Marine Impériale}}) was the name given to the [[French Navy]] during the period of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], and subsequently during the reign of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]].  The first use of the title 'Imperial Navy' was in 1804, following the [[Coronation of Napoleon]], a name derived from the old [[French Navy]] under [[First French Republic|The Republic]]. It notably saw action at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]], and its defeat prevented Napoleon's planned [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|invasion of the United Kingdom]].  After the First Bourbon Restoration in 1814, the navy was renamed to its old title of French Royal Navy, but after Napoleon's return in March 1815, briefly became the Imperial Navy once more. Following the Second Bourbon Restoration, the navy once again became royal, and the title wasn't used again.
== History ==
=== Fleet of the Restoration ===
In 1789 the [[Kingdom of France]] had the second strongest navy in the world (only second to the [[Royal British Navy]]).  The navy had been rebuilt since the disasters of the [[Seven Years' War]].  During the [[American War of Independence]], ([[Anglo-French War (1778–1783)]]), the French managed quite a few successes against the British Royal Navy which could at best contain this new, rejuvenated, navy.  French naval officers had become more talented and one, [[Admiral]] [[Pierre André de Suffren|Pierre André, Comte de Suffren]], proved to be a brilliant opponent in the [[Indian Ocean]] ([[Second Anglo-Mysore War]]).  Following the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1783, the French continued to make improvements to the navy that had brought them revenge for the defeats of the Seven Years' War.  The standard French [[Ship of the line|ships of the line]] were of 74 guns ([[Third-rate|Third-rate designation]]) and were of excellent design.  Some reforms were made in 1782, which organised the French Navy in the most sweeping fashion since the days of [[Louis XIV]].  The whole navy was divided into nine fleets (or squadrons) with many measures made for greater efficiency.<ref>Chartrand, pp. 5–6</ref>
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 [[French nobility|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 '[[Nobility|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.<ref name=":0">Chartrand, pp. 7–8</ref>
In 1789 the French navy had three main military seaports: [[Brest Arsenal|Brest]] and [[Rochefort Arsenal|Rochefort]] on the Atlantic, and [[Toulon Arsenal|Toulon]] on the Mediterranean.  These ports were the headquarters for senior commanders, and the bases for most Marine units.  They had large shipyards for the construction and refitting of warships, as well as related industries, and were the homes of thousands of ''ouvriers'', the shipyard workers.  There was a powerful corps of administrative and technical officers such as [[Commissar|commissars]], shipbuilding engineers, and so on.  There were the officers of the pen (''officiers de plume'') as opposed to the officers of the sword (''officiers d'épée''), the sea-faring naval officers who had little regard and much disdain for the "paper pushers".  There were smaller bases in France, such as [[Lorient Arsenal|Lorient]] and [[Cherbourg Naval Base|Cherbourg]], and also in the colonies, such as [[Fort Saint Louis (Martinique)|Fort Saint Louis]] in [[Martinique]] and [[Port Louis]] in [[Île-de-France]], which were humbler versions of the three great ports, all with the same military and administrative structure.<ref name=":0"/>
=== 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 [[French Royal Navy|Royal Navy]], as well as educated and talented young men.  To improve discipline, the old pre-1789 general regulations were brought back into force and new ones drafted, bringing back order and submission to central authority.  The concept of having, besides the larger warships, armed small craft in 'flotillas' also evolved at this time and saw success against the British [[Channel Fleet]] in August 1801, frustrating Admiral [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Horatio Nelson]] himself.  Admiral [[Denis Decrès]], an able administrator but unfortunately more of a courtier than a naval strategist, was made Minister of the Marine in 1801, a portfolio he held until the final exile of the Emperor in 1815 (see below).  Great efforts and vast sums of money were allotted to the navy by the First Consul.  The navy had 83 ships of the line in 1792, but only 46 ten years later, while the numbers of frigates had gone from 74 to 37.  To build new ships large military seaports and shipyards were set up at Cherbourg and [[Antwerp]] – the latter especially worried [[British prime minister|British Prime Minister]] [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]], who felt it was a 'pistol aimed at the head of England'.  For the first time in over a decade the navy emerged from chaos, thanks to Napoleon's measures.<ref name=":1">Chartrand, pp. 16–17</ref>
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 [[History of Spain (1700–1810)|Spain]] and [[Kingdom of Holland|Holland]] to that of France would automatically produce a great fleet – like gathering the contingents for the ''[[Grande Armée]]''.  Skilled manpower was always a problem for the fleet, which Napoleon tackled with increasingly military measures.  A first experiment had been the formation of the ''[[Légion Nautique]]'' during the [[French campaign in Egypt and Syria]].  Following the [[Battle of the Nile|defeat of the French fleet]] at [[Abu Qir|Abukir]], nearly 2,500 sailors and Marine artillerymen were stranded in [[Alexandria]] and used to form the new legion during October and November 1798.  Issued with arms and uniforms, the new legion had eight companies of fusiliers, one of grenadiers, and sections of artillery and pioneers.  General Bonaparte noted that the sailors could be trained and led quite efficiently in a militarised organisation.  He did not forget this.  The ''Légion Nautique'' was repatriated to France at British expense in September 1801, but disbanded after returning.  Many of the veterans of this legion would later serve in the famed [[Sailors of the Imperial Guard]]. <ref name=":1"/>
=== Trafalgar Campaign ===
{{Main|Trafalgar campaign}}
==== Initial Plans & Changes ====
[[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] had been planning an invasion of England for some time, with the first ''[[Army of England]]'' gathering on the Channel coast in 1798. Napoleon's concentration on campaigns in Egypt and Austria, and the [[Peace of Amiens]] caused these plans to be shelved in 1802. The resumption of hostilities in 1803 led to their revival, and forces were gathered outside Boulogne in large military camps in preparation for the assembling of the invasion flotilla. The Royal Navy was the main obstacle to a successful invasion, but Napoleon declared that his fleet need only be masters of the Channel for six hours and the crossing could be effected. Though the intended departure points were known and were being closely blockaded by the Royal Navy, [[Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty|First Lord of the Admiralty]] [[Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville|Lord Melville]] was short of ships. If a combined Franco-Spanish fleet were to force the Navy from its station for even a short while, the French invasion force might succeed in crossing unmolested. The French aimed to achieve at least temporary control of the Channel, while the British aimed to prevent this at all costs.<ref name="Best152">{{Cite book|last=Best|title=Trafalgar|page=15}}</ref><ref name="Best43">{{Cite book|last=Best|title=Trafalgar|page=43}}</ref><ref name="Best55-7">{{Cite book|last=Best|title=Trafalgar|pages=55–7}}</ref>
==== Battle and Campaign ====
Villeneuve's fleet underwent repairs in Cádiz, covered by a hastily assembled blockade of British warships, initially commanded by Rear-Admiral [[Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood|Cuthbert Collingwood]], and from 27 September by Vice-Admiral Nelson, who had arrived from England to take command. He spent the following weeks preparing and refining his tactics for the anticipated battle and dining with his captains to ensure they understood his intentions. Nelson had devised a plan of attack that anticipated the allied fleet would form up in a traditional [[line of battle]]. Drawing on his own experience from the [[Battle of the Nile|Nile]] and [[Battle of Copenhagen (1801)|Copenhagen]], and the examples of [[Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan|Duncan]] at [[Battle of Camperdown|Camperdown]] and [[George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney|Rodney]] at the [[Battle of the Saintes|Saintes]], Nelson decided to split his fleet into squadrons rather than forming it into a similar line parallel to the enemy. These squadrons would then cut the enemy's line in a number of places, allowing a pell-mell battle to develop in which the British ships could overwhelm and destroy parts of their opponents' formation, before the unengaged enemy ships could come to their aid.<ref name="Hibbert362">{{Cite book|last=Hibbert|title=Nelson, A Personal History|page=362}}</ref><ref name="Hibbert360">{{Cite book|last=Hibbert|title=Nelson, A Personal History|page=360}}</ref><ref name="Adkin411">{{Cite book|last=Adkin|title=The Trafalgar Companion|page=411}}</ref>
[[File:Turner,_The_Battle_of_Trafalgar_(1822).jpg|left|thumb|''[[The Battle of Trafalgar (painting)|The Battle of Trafalgar]]'' by [[J. M. W. Turner]] (oil on canvas, 1822–1824) combines events from several moments during the battle]]
Napoleon, increasingly dissatisfied with Villeneuve's performance, ordered Vice-Admiral [[François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros|François Rosily]] to go to Cádiz and take command of the fleet, sail it into the Mediterranean to land troops at [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], before making port at Toulon. Villeneuve decided to sail the fleet out before his successor arrived. On 20 October the fleet was sighted making its way out of harbour by patrolling British frigates, and Nelson was informed that they appeared to be headed to the west. Nelson led his column of ships into battle aboard HMS ''Victory'', and succeeded in cutting the line and causing the pell-mell battle he desired to break out. After several hours of fighting 17 French and Spanish ships had been captured and another destroyed, without the loss of a single British ship. Nelson was among the 449 British dead, having been mortally wounded by a French sharpshooter during the battle. Nine of the prizes were later scuttled or sunk in a storm that blew up the following day. A [[Action of 23 October 1805|sortie]] led by some of the ships that managed to escape under [[Julien Cosmao]] managed to recapture the Spanish [[Spanish ship Santa Ana (1784)|''Santa Ana'']], but in doing so he lost three more of his ships, wrecked in the gale, while a fourth was captured by the British, but later wrecked. The British fleet and the surviving French prizes put into Gibraltar over the next few days.<ref name="Hibbert362"/><ref name="Hibbert363">{{Cite book|last=Hibbert|title=Nelson, A Personal History|page=363}}</ref>{{Ref label|E|e|none}}<ref name="Adkin528">{{Cite book|last=Adkin|title=The Trafalgar Companion|page=528}}</ref>
==== 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 [[British Empire|Empire]].<ref name="Traf372">{{Cite book|last=Clayton & Craig|title=Trafalgar|page=372}}</ref>
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.<ref name="Mostert515">{{Cite book|last=Mostert|title=The Line Upon the Wind|page=515}}</ref>
=== After Trafalgar ===
Napoleon found himself with weak and demoralised remnants of a high-seas fleet and flotilla.  The [[Boulogne Flotilla]] crews had been organised into 14 [[French Naval Crews Battalions|Crews battalions]] on 10 August 1805.  This time, however, the flotilla was not disbanded and its better gunboats were used for coastal service, escorting convoys of small commercial vessels along the [[English Channel]].   Some gunboats might be useful on the coast, but meant nothing against the powerful ships of the British Royal Navy.  Napoleon fully understood this and resolved to rebuild the fleet through a large long-term construction programme.  Vast sums of money were poured into the great military ports in order to build new ships of the line.<ref name=":2">Chartrand, pp. 19–20</ref>
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.<ref name=":2"/>
== Ministers of the Marine ==
{{Main|Minister of the Marine (France)}}
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |Portrait
! rowspan="2" |Minister name{{Efn|Titles of members are shown as they appear by the end of their term.}}
! colspan="3" |Term
|-
!Took office
!Left office
!Time in office
|-
|[[File:Denis_Decrès.jpg|123x123px]]
|[[Denis Decrès|Denis, ''Duc de Decrès'']]
|[[Coronation of Napoleon|2 December 1804]]{{Efn|Denis Decrès had held this position since 3 October 1801 under the [[Consulate]]}}
|1 April 1814
|{{ayd|1804|12|2|1814|4|1}}
|-
|[[File:Portret_van_Pierre-Victor_Malouet_met_een_zicht_van_het_bouwen_van_schepen_onderaan.jpg|border|131x131px|Portret van Pierre-Victor Malouet met een zicht van het bouwen van schepen onderaan]]
|[[Pierre Victor, baron Malouet|Pierre Victor, ''Baron de Malouet'']]
|3 April 1814
|[[First Abdication of Napoleon|11 April 1815]]{{Efn|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.}}
|{{ayd|1814|4|3|1814|4|11}}
|-
|[[File:Denis_Decrès.jpg|123x123px]]
|Denis, ''Duc de Decrès''
|[[Hundred Days#Return to France|20 March 1815]]
|7 July 1815
|{{ayd|1815|3|20|1815|7|7}}
|}
== 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 ===
{{Expand section|date=November 2021}}
''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, France|Brest]]
** Cherbourg Squadron, at the [[Cherbourg Arsenal]], [[Cherbourg-en-Cotentin|Cherbourg]]
** Escaut Squadron, at the [[Port of Antwerp|Antwerp Arsenal]], [[Antwerp]]
** Lorient Squadron, at the [[Lorient Arsenal]], [[Lorient]]
** Rochefort Squadron, at the [[Rochefort Arsenal]], [[Rochefort, Charente-Maritime|Rochefort]]
* '''Mediterranean Fleet''' – ''those squadrons attached to the old Mediterranean Fleet''
** Toulon Squadron, at the [[Toulon Arsenal]], [[Toulon]]
** Aegean Sea Squadron, at [[Corfu]], [[French rule in the Ionian Islands (1807–1814)|French Ionian Islands]]
* '''Overseas Fleet''' – ''those squadrons deployed Overseas to the colonies''
** Windward Islands (West Indies) Squadron, at [[Fort Saint Louis (Martinique)|Fort Saint Louis]], [[Martinique]]
** East Indies Ocean (East Indies) Squadron, in [[History of Puducherry#European period|Pondichéry]], [[French India]]
=== Naval Corps ===
{{Main|French Imperial Naval Corps}}
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 ==
* [[List of ships of the line of France#First Empire (1804 to 1815)|List of ships of the line of the First Empire]]
* [[List of sail frigates of France#Frigates of Louis XVI (1774–1792), the Revolutionary era and the First Empire (to 1815)|List of frigates of the First Empire]]
== Footnotes ==
=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}
=== Citations ===
<references />
== References ==
* {{Cite book|last=Adkin|first=Mark|url=https://archive.org/details/trafalgarcompani0000adki|title=The Trafalgar Companion: A Guide to History's Most Famous Sea Battle and the Life of Admiral Lord Nelson|publisher=Aurum Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84513-018-3|location=London|url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book|last=Best|first=Nicholas|title=Trafalgar: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sea Battle in History|publisher=Phoenix|year=2005|isbn=0-7538-2095-1|location=London}}
* {{Cite book|last=Chartrand|first=René|url=https://ospreypublishing.com/napoleon-039-s-sea-soldiers-pb|title=Napoleon's Sea Soldiers|publisher=Osprey Military Publishing|year=1990|isbn=978-0850459982|oclc=937697860}}
* {{Cite book|last=Clayton|first=Tim|url=https://archive.org/details/trafalgarmenbatt0000clay|title=Trafalgar: The Men, The Battle, The Storm|author2=Craig, Phil|publisher=Hodder|year=2004|isbn=0-340-83028-X|location=London|url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book|last=Hibbert|first=Christopher|title=Nelson A Personal History.|publisher=Basic Books|year=1994|isbn=0-201-40800-7|author-link=Christopher Hibbert}}
* {{Cite book|last=Mostert|first=Noel|title=The Line Upon a Wind: The Greatest War Fought At Sea Under Sail: 1793–1815|publisher=Vintage Books|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7126-0927-2|location=London}}
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Digby|title=The Greenhill Napoleonic wars data book|publisher=Greenhill Books Stackpole Books|year=1998|isbn=978-1-85367-276-7|publication-place=London Mechanicsburg, PA|oclc=37616149}}
[[Category:French Navy]]
[[Category:Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1804]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1815]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1814]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1815]]
[[Category:Disbanded navies]]