Chief of Staff of the French Navy

Chief of Staff of the French Navy Chef d'État-Major de la Marine (fr)
Marque of the Chief[1]
Incumbent Amiral Pierre Vandier since 1 September 2020
Ministry of the Armed Forces
Style	Monsieur le Chef d'État-Major de la Marine
Abbreviation	C.E.M.M.
Member of	Chiefs of Staff Committee
Reports to	Chief of the Defence Staff
Seat	Hexagone Balard, Paris
Appointer	President of the Republic Requires the Prime Minister's countersignature
Term length	No fixed term
Formation	1871
First holder	Jules Krantz
Deputy	Major General of the Navy
Website	www.defense.gouv.fr

The Chief of Staff of the French Navy (French: Chef d'État-Major de la Marine, acronym: C.E.M.M.) is the head of the French Navy and is responsible to the Minister of the Armed Forces in relation to preparation and deployment. They are a subordinate of the Chief of the Defense Staff and their deputy is the Major General of the Navy. Since the 1950s, the office has been held only by five-star admirals (OF-9). The current Chief is Amiral Pierre Vandier since 1 September 2020.

Responsibilities[]

The chief, as a naval expert, assists:

• The Chief of the Defence Staff in the preparation of naval operations, planning, programming and the motion application of cohesiveness in consolidating future military means
• The Prime Minister in safeguarding France's maritime apparatus

The chief has authority over:

• Various naval commands:
  • Naval Action Force (FAN)
  • Strategic Oceanic Force (FOST)
  • Naval Aviation (AVIA)
  • Fusiliers Marins & Commandos (FORFUSCO)
• The territorial organization of the Navy:
  • Maritime prefects
  • Commanders of the Navy, in mainland and overseas France
• The services of the Navy:
  • Directectorate of the Navy Military Personnel (DPMM)
  • Central Directorate of the Navy Commission (DCCM)
  • Central Directorate of the Navy Information Systems (DCSIM)
  • Central Directorate of the Fleet Support Service (DCSSF)
  • Central Directorate of the Naval and Real Estates Works (DCTIM)

They lead the Staff of the Navy who oversees, through the four divisions (human resources, planning, programmes and logistical operations), the general direction of the Navy. Finally, they preside over the board of directors of the Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOM).

History[]

Before World War I[]

Well before the First World War, the Chief of Staff of the French Navy was at first hand the Military Cabinet Chief of the Minister of the Navy. This mode of functioning was at origin the main utilization designation of the military figure which had effective authority on the French Navy, and referred to the admiral who commanded the armed naval force, often designated as amiralissime, in reference to the title of « généralissime » used in the French Army.

During World War I[]

The First World War replaced all these functionalities in cause, with major incorporation of various tasks in order to conduct a long term industrial naval warfare in light of disposing and having the means to confront new menaces, mainly constituted by submarine warfare and mine explosions: in accordance, another sort of twin identical general staff headquarters directorate was created and designated as Directorate General of Submarine Warfare (DGGSM) with an action domain often described as redundant, a constituted redundancy which naturally led to the dissolving of the DGGSM, at the end of World War I and the transfer of the various associated attribution prerogatives to the various bureaux of the General Staff of the Navy.

In order to dispose of an effective permanent system allowing the uniform façade transition shiftings between times of peace - preparation periods - and times of war - action periods -, the Chief of Staff became, in the early years of 1920s, the designated Commandant of the French Naval Forces in case of war, and the various work functionalities of the General Staff would be in such circumstances at the disposition of the Major General of the French Navy, a Vice-Admiral and his first deputy in times of peace.

After World War II[]

After World War II, the progressive disappearing of the Ministry of the Navy led to confine a part of the prerogatives of the Naval Minister to the Chief of Staff, a part of the prerogatives which were in a progressive manner adopted at the Joint level by the Defence Staff and its Chief. This Chief accordingly inherited the direction responsibility of naval and maritime operations from the Chief of Staff of the Navy in 1971, while the French Army and French Air Force had their combat authority direction responsibility of operations transferred to the Chief of the Defence Staff ten years earlier in 1961.

In the early 2000s, a large part of these organic prerogatives - forces preparations - were transferred to Chief of the Defence Staff, however the Chief of Staff of the Navy remains the principal counselor and adviser in relation to the preparation of use of the French Navy.

Name of the office[]

The office took various names during its history:

• Chief of the General Staff of the Navy (1871 – 1939)
• Commander-in-chief of the French Naval Forces (1939 – 1941)
• Chief of the General Staff of the French Naval Forces (1941 – 1943)
• Chief of the General Staff of the Navy (1943 – 1950)
• Chief of Staff of the Navy (1950 – )

List of chiefs[]

The following is a list of chiefs that served under the Third Republic, the French State, the Fourth Republic and the Fifth Republic:

Third Republic[]

No.	Portrait	Rank & Name	Term			Minister	Commander-in-Chief	Ref.[a]
			Took office	Left office	Duration
Office established
1		Contre-amiral[b] Jules Krantz	9 March 1871	4 June 1873	2 years, 87 days	Louis Pothuau Charles d'Hornoy	Adolphe Thiers Patrice de MacMahon	[2] -
2		Contre-amiral Victor Duperré	4 June 1873	1 October 1874	1 year, 119 days	Charles d'Hornoy Louis de Chauvance	Patrice de MacMahon	[3] -
3		Contre-amiral Henri Garnault	1 October 1874	12 March 1876	1 year, 163 days	Louis de Chauvance Léon Fourichon	Patrice de MacMahon	[4] -
4		Contre-amiral Albert Roussin	12 March 1876	1 October 1877	1 year, 203 days	Léon Fourichon Albert des Touches Albert Roussin	Patrice de MacMahon	[5] -
5		Contre-amiral Abel-Nicolas Bergasse du Petit-Thouars	1 October 1877	12 February 1879	1 year, 134 days	Albert Roussin Louis Pothuau Jean Jauréguiberry	Patrice de MacMahon Jules Grévy	[6] -
6		Contre-amiral Eugène Sellier	12 February 1879	2 August 1880	1 year, 172 days	Jean Jauréguiberry	Jules Grévy	[7] -
7		Contre-amiral Alexandre Peyron	2 August 1880	17 November 1881	1 year, 107 days	Jean Jauréguiberry Georges Cloué Auguste Gougeard	Jules Grévy	[8] -
8		Capitaine de vaisseau Armand Besnard	17 November 1881	1 February 1882	76 days	Auguste Gougeard Jean Jauréguiberry	Jules Grévy	[9] -
9		Vice-amiral Alexandre Peyron	1 February 1882	28 February 1883	1 year, 27 days	Jean Jauréguiberry François de Mahy	Jules Grévy	[10] -
10		Contre-amiral Sébastien Lespès	28 February 1883	14 July 1885	2 years, 136 days	François de Mahy Charles Brun Alexandre Peyron Charles-Eugène Galiber	Jules Grévy	[11] -
11		Contre-amiral Charles de la Jaille	14 July 1885	10 January 1886	180 days	Charles-Eugène Galiber Théophile Aube	Jules Grévy	[12] -
12		Contre-amiral[b] Louis Brown de Colstoun	10 January 1886	1 April 1887	1 year, 81 days	Théophile Aube	Jules Grévy	[13] -
13		Capitaine de vaisseau Alfred Gervais	1 April 1887	2 June 1887	62 days	Théophile Aube Édouard Barbey	Jules Grévy	[14] -
14		Contre-amiral Louis Alquier	2 June 1887	16 December 1887	197 days	Édouard Barbey François de Mahy	Jules Grévy Sadi Carnot	[15] -
15		Contre-amiral Alfred Le Timbre	16 December 1887	13 November 1889	1 year, 332 days	François de Mahy Jules Krantz Benjamin Jaurès Jules Krantz Édouard Barbey	Sadi Carnot	[16] -
16		Vice-amiral Louis Vignes	13 November 1889	11 February 1892	2 years, 90 days	Édouard Barbey	Sadi Carnot	[17] -
17		Vice-amiral Alfred Gervais	11 February 1892	22 September 1894	2 years, 223 days	Édouard Barbey Godefroy Cavaignac [...] Auguste Lefèvre Félix Faure	Sadi Carnot Jean Casimir-Perier	[18] -
18		Vice-amiral Edgar Humann	22 September 1894	8 November 1895	1 year, 48 days	Félix Faure Armand Besnard Édouard Lockroy	Jean Casimir-Perier Félix Faure	[19] -
19		Contre-amiral Charles Chauvin	8 November 1895	16 June 1896	221 days	Édouard Lockroy Armand Besnard	Félix Faure	[20] -
20		Vice-amiral Jean de Lamornaix	16 June 1896	8 July 1898	2 years, 22 days	Armand Besnard Édouard Lockroy	Félix Faure	[21] -
21		Vice-amiral Jules de Cuverville	8 July 1898	8 July 1899	1 year, 0 days	Édouard Lockroy Jean-Marie de Lanessan	Félix Faure Émile Loubet	[22] -
22		Contre-amiral Léonce Caillard	8 July 1899	1 May 1900	297 days	Jean-Marie de Lanessan	Émile Loubet	[23] -
23		Vice-amiral Amédée Bienaimé	1 May 1900	1 February 1902	1 year, 276 days	Jean-Marie de Lanessan	Émile Loubet	[24] -
24		Contre-amiral[c] Ernest Marquer	1 February 1902	18 February 1904	2 years, 17 days	Jean-Marie de Lanessan Camille Pelletan	Émile Loubet	[25] -
25		Contre-amiral[c] Paul Campion	18 February 1904	29 January 1905	346 days	Camille Pelletan Gaston Thomson	Émile Loubet	[26] -
26		Vice-amiral Charles Touchard	29 January 1905	1 November 1905	276 days	Gaston Thomson	Émile Loubet	[27] -
27		Vice-amiral[d] Charles Aubert	1 November 1905	23 August 1909	3 years, 295 days	Gaston Thomson Alfred Picard Auguste de Lapeyrère	Émile Loubet Armand Fallières	[28] -
28		Vice-amiral[d] Laurent Marin-Darbel	23 August 1909	15 February 1911	1 year, 176 days	Auguste de Lapeyrère	Armand Fallières	[29] -
29		Vice-amiral[d] Paul Auvert	15 February 1911	1 February 1912	351 days	Auguste de Lapeyrère Théophile Delcassé	Armand Fallières	[30] -
30		Vice-amiral Charles Aubert	1 February 1912	24 January 1913	358 days	Théophile Delcassé Pierre Baudin	Armand Fallières	[31] -
31		Vice-amiral Pierre Le Bris	24 January 1913	26 May 1914	1 year, 122 days	Pierre Baudin Ernest Monis Armand Gauthier	Armand Fallières Raymond Poincaré	[32] -
32		Vice-amiral Louis-Joseph Pivet	26 May 1914	5 December 1914	193 days	Armand Gauthier Émile Chautemps Armand Gauthier Victor Augagneur	Raymond Poincaré	[33] -
33		Vice-amiral Charles Aubert	5 December 1914	7 June 1915†	184 days	Victor Augagneur	Raymond Poincaré	[34] -
34		Vice-amiral Eugène de Jonquières	9 June 1915	10 March 1916	275 days	Victor Augagneur Lucien Lacaze	Raymond Poincaré	[35] -
35		Vice-amiral Ferdinand De Bon	10 March 1916	16 April 1919	3 years, 37 days	Lucien Lacaze Charles Chaumet Georges Leygues	Raymond Poincaré	[36] -
36		Vice-amiral Pierre-Alexis Ronarc'h	16 April 1919	4 February 1920	294 days	Georges Leygues Adolphe Landry	Raymond Poincaré	[37] -
37		Vice-amiral Henri Salaün	4 February 1920	26 January 1921	357 days	Adolphe Landry Gabriel Guist'hau	Raymond Poincaré Paul Deschanel Alexandre Millerand	[38] -
38		Vice-amiral Maurice Grasset	26 January 1921	23 July 1924	3 years, 179 days	Gabriel Guist'hau Flaminius Raiberti Maurice Bokanowski Désiré Ferry Jacques-Louis Dumesnil	Alexandre Millerand Gaston Doumergue	[39] -
39		Vice-amiral Henri Salaun	23 July 1924	11 January 1928	3 years, 172 days	Jacques-Louis Dumesnil Émile Borel Georges Leygues René Renoult Georges Leygues	Gaston Doumergue	[40] -
40		Vice-amiral Louis-Hippolyte Violette	11 January 1928	17 February 1931	3 years, 37 days	Georges Leygues Albert Sarraut Jacques-Louis Dumesnil Albert Sarraut Charles Dumont	Gaston Doumergue	[41] -
41		Vice-amiral Georges Durand-Viel	17 February 1931	31 December 1936	5 years, 318 days	Charles Dumont Georges Leygues [...] François Piétri Alphonse Duparc	Gaston Doumergue Paul Doumer Albert Lebrun	[42] -
42		Amiral[e] François Darlan	31 December 1936	25 June 1939	2 years, 176 days	Alphonse Duparc César Campinchi William Bertrand César Campinchi	Albert Lebrun	[43] -

French State[]

No.	Portrait	Rank & Name	Term			Minister	Commander-in-Chief	Ref.[a]
			Took office	Left office	Duration
(42)		Amiral[f] François Darlan	25 June 1939	2 September 1941	2 years, 69 days	César Campinchi François Darlan	Albert Lebrun Philippe Pétain	[44] -
43		Contre-amiral Gabriel Auphan	2 September 1941	18 November 1942	1 year, 77 days	François Darlan	Philippe Pétain	[45] -
44		Vice-amiral d'escadre Maurice Le Luc	21 November 1942	1 April 1943	131 days	Jean Abrial	Philippe Pétain	[46] -

Fourth Republic[]

No.	Portrait	Rank & Name	Term			Minister[g]	Commander-in-Chief	Ref.[a]
			Took office	Left office	Duration
45		Vice-amiral d'escadre[h] André Lemonnier	7 August 1943	28 May 1950	6 years, 294 days	Philippe Auboyneau Louis Jacquinot [...] Paul Ramadier René Pleven	Charles de Gaulle Félix Gouin Georges Bidault Léon Blum Vincent Auriol	[47] -
46		Vice-amiral Robert Battet	28 May 1950	14 July 1950†	47 days	René Pleven Jules Moch	Vincent Auriol	[48] -
47		Vice-amiral Roger-Gabriel Lambert	10 August 1950	26 October 1951	1 year, 77 days	Jules Moch Georges Bidault	Vincent Auriol	[49] -
48		Amiral Henri Nomy	26 October 1951	19 May 1960	8 years, 206 days	Georges Bidault René Pleven [...] Pierre Guillaumat Pierre Messmer	Vincent Auriol René Coty Charles de Gaulle	- -

Fifth Republic[]

No.	Portrait	Rank & Name	Term			Minister	Commander-in-Chief	Ref.[a]
			Took office	Left office	Duration
49		Amiral Georges Cabanier	19 May 1960	1 January 1968	7 years, 227 days	Pierre Messmer	Charles de Gaulle	[50] -
50		Amiral André Patou	1 January 1968	1 May 1970	2 years, 120 days	Pierre Messmer Michel Debré	Charles de Gaulle Georges Pompidou	- -
51		Amiral André Storelli	1 May 1970	1 February 1972	1 year, 276 days	Michel Debré	Georges Pompidou	- -
52		Amiral Marc de Joybert	1 February 1972	14 July 1974	2 years, 163 days	Michel Debré Robert Galley Jacques Soufflet Yvon Bourges	Georges Pompidou Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	- -
53		Amiral Albert Joire-Noulens	14 July 1974	1 August 1976	2 years, 18 days	Yvon Bourges	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	[51] -
54		Amiral Jean-René Lannuzel	1 August 1976	1 August 1982	6 years, 0 days	Yvon Bourges Joël Le Theule Robert Galley Charles Hernu	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing François Mitterrand	[52] -
55		Amiral Yves Leenhardt	1 August 1982	30 January 1987	4 years, 182 days	Charles Hernu Paul Quilès André Giraud	François Mitterrand	[53] -
56		Amiral Bernard Louzeau	30 January 1987	20 November 1990	3 years, 294 days	André Giraud Jean-Pierre Chevènement	François Mitterrand	[54] -
57		Amiral Alain Coatanéa	20 November 1990	1 July 1994	3 years, 223 days	Jean-Pierre Chevènement Pierre Joxe François Léotard	François Mitterrand	[55] -
58		Amiral Jean-Charles Lefebvre	1 July 1994	2 May 1999	4 years, 305 days	François Léotard Charles Millon Alain Richard	François Mitterrand Jacques Chirac	[56] -
59		Amiral Jean-Luc Delaunay	2 May 1999	1 July 2001	2 years, 60 days	Alain Richard	Jacques Chirac	[57] -
60		Amiral Jean-Louis Battet	1 July 2001	15 June 2005	3 years, 349 days	Alain Richard Michèle Alliot-Marie	Jacques Chirac	[58] [59]
61		Amiral Alain Oudot de Dainville	15 June 2005	4 February 2008	2 years, 234 days	Michèle Alliot-Marie Hervé Morin	Jacques Chirac Nicolas Sarkozy	[60] [61]
62		Amiral Pierre-François Forissier	4 February 2008	12 September 2011	3 years, 220 days	Hervé Morin Alain Juppé Gérard Longuet	Nicolas Sarkozy	[62] -
63		Amiral Bernard Rogel	12 September 2011	13 July 2016	4 years, 305 days	Gérard Longuet Jean-Yves Le Drian	Nicolas Sarkozy François Hollande	[63] [64]
64		Amiral Christophe Prazuck	13 July 2016	1 September 2020	4 years, 50 days	Jean-Yves Le Drian Sylvie Goulard Florence Parly	François Hollande Emmanuel Macron	[65] [66]
65		Amiral Pierre Vandier	1 September 2020	Incumbent	1 year, 9 days	Florence Parly	Emmanuel Macron	[67]

See also[]

• Chief of the Defence Staff
  • Chief of Staff of the French Army
  • Chief of Staff of the French Air Force
  • Special Operations Command
  • Directorate General of the National Gendarmerie

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Marine nationale The functions of the Chef d'état major de la marine on the French Navy site