Luc Urbain de Bouëxic, comte de Guichen (June 21, 1712 – January 13, 1790), French admiral, entered the navy in 1730 as "garde de la Marine," the first rank in the corps of royal officers. Jump to: navigation, search June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events Treaty of Aargau signed between Catholic and Protestants. ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1790 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Admiral is a word from the Arabic term Amir-al-bahr (Lord of the bay). ...

His promotion was not rapid. It was not till 1746 that he became "lieutenant de vaisseau," which was, however, a somewhat higher rank than the lieutenant in the British navy, since it carried with it the right to command a frigate. He was promoted "capitaine de vaisseau", or post captain, in May 1756. But his reputation must have been good, for he was made chevalier de Saint Louis in 1748. In that year de Guichen had fought no fewer than five battles against superior British forces, while escorting back to France, from the Antilles a huge convoy. In 1755 he participated in the abortive relief expedition to Louisbourg under Dubois de La Motte, and was involved, onboard the 70-gun "L'Héros" off Louisbourg. In 1775 he was appointed to the frigate Terpsichore, attached to the training squadron, in which the duc de Chartres, afterwards notorious as the duc d'Orléans and as Philippe Egalité, was entered as volunteer. In the next year he was promoted Chef d'Escadre, or Rear-Admiral. Events January 8 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling April 16 - Battle of Culloden brings an end to the Jacobite Risings October 22 - The College of New Jersey is founded (it becomes Princeton University in 1896) October 28 - An earthquake demolishes Lima and Callao, in Peru Catharine de Ricci (born 1522... Jump to: navigation, search A Lieutenant is a military, paramilitary or police officer. ... Frigate is a name which has been used for several distinct types of warships at different times. ... Post-Captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy. ... 1756 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Louis-Philippe-Joseph dOrléans, by Antoine-François Callet. ... The term Rear Admiral originated from the days of Naval Sailing Squadrons, and can trace its origins to the British Royal Navy. ...

When France had become the ally of the Americans in the War of Independence, he hoisted his flag in the Channel fleet, and was present at the battle of Ushant on the 27th of July 1778, where his flagship, La Ville de Paris (90 guns) took station just abaft the fleet-flagship, La Bretagne, and several times fought off both Keppel, Palliser and other determined English assailants. For this deed he and his crew received the 'Cordon Rouge' for outstanding valour. In March 1779 he was promoted Lieutenant Général des Armées Navales, or roughly corresponding to the British Vice-Admiral of the White and Red and Admiral of the Blue and White. As such he commanded the French van in the Combined fleet of Comte d'Orvillers and Don Luis de Córdoba y Córdoba that year (June-September). In January of the following year he was sent to the West Indies with a strong squadron and was there opposed to Sir George Rodney. In the first meeting between them on April 17 to the leeward of Martinique, Guichen escaped disaster only through the clumsy manner in which Sir George's orders were executed by his captains. But, thanks to the orderly fashion in which his own subordinate squadron-commanders dealt with the crisis, especially the third-in-command François-Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse-Tilly's rapid closing-up of the battle-line, de Guichen managed to extricate himself from a difficult situation and, instead turn a narrow defeat to a drawn battle, although his and Marquis de Bouillé's objective to attack and seize Jamaica were cancelled. During that battle, both Rodney's Sandwich (90 guns) as well as de Guichen' own La Couronne (80 guns) had been temporarily cut off from their respective fleets and had borne the burnt of the battle. Seeing that he had to deal with a formidable opponent, de Guichen acted with extreme caution, and by keeping the weather gauge afforded the British admiral no chance of bringing him to close action. The following two actions, 15 May, 19 May also off Dominica and Martinique were set-pieces of masterly fleet handling which Rodney could not parallel, but inconclusive, although the French had the better of them. In conjunction with the battle of the 17 April, these battles are called Les Trois Combats de Mons. de Guichen in the French naval annals. When the hurricane months approached (July to September) he left the West Indies, and his squadron, being in a bad state from want of repairs, returned home, reaching Cadiz in September, bringing with him a convoy of 95 merchants. On that roadstead his able second-in-command, H.-A., Comte de Sade, a maternal cousin of the infamous 'Marquis' de Sade, died at age 69. Previously de Guichen, himself had suffered a personal loss, by the death of his eldest son, Luc, Chevalier de Guichen through tropical fever. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence, was a war fought primarily between Great Britain and revolutionaries within thirteen of her North American colonies. ... The naval First Battle of Ushant took place on 27 July 1778 during the American Revolutionary War, fought between French and British fleets 100 miles west of the isle of Ile dOuessant (Ushant to the English), a French island at the mouth of the English Channel off the north... Jump to: navigation, search The Battle of the Saintes, 12 April 1782: surrender of the Ville de Paris by Thomas Whitcombe, painted 1783, shows Hoods Barfleur, centre, attacking the French flagship Ville de Paris, right. ... The Bretagne was a large three-decker French ship of the line that became famous as the flagship of the Brest Fleet during the American War of Independence. ... Vice Admiral is a naval rank of three star level, equivalent to Lieutenant General in seniority. ... Admiral is a word from the Arabic term Amir-al-bahr (Lord of the bay). ... The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ... Admiral Lord George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, 1719–1792 by Jean-Laurent Mosnier, painted 1791, George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney (February 1718 – May 24, 1792), was a British naval officer. ... Jump to: navigation, search April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search François Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasse Tilly, comte de Grasse François Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasse Tilly, comte de Grasse (1722-14 January 1788 (Paris)), French admiral, was born at Bar-sur-Loup, in the present département of the Alpes-Maritimes. ... Jump to: navigation, search May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... This article is about weather phenomena. ... This article is about the Spanish city. ...

Throughout all this campaign Guichen had shown himself very skilful in handling a fleet, and if he had not gained any marked success, he had prevented the British admiral from doing any harm to the French islands in the Antilles. In December 1781 the comte de Guichen was chosen to command the force which was entrusted with the duty of carrying stores and reinforcements to the West Indies. On the 12th Admiral Kempenfelt, who had been sent out by the British Government with an unduly weak force to intercept him, sighted the French admiral in the Bay of Biscay through a temporary clearance in a fog, at a moment when Guichen's warships were to leeward of the convoy, and attacked the transports at once. The French admiral could not prevent his enemy from capturing twenty of the transports, and driving the others into a panic-stricken flight. They returned to port, and the mission entrusted to Guichen was entirely defeated. He therefore returned to port also. He had no opportunity to gain any counterbalancing success during the short remainder of the war, but he was present at the final relief of Gibraltar by Lord Howe. The Antilles now generally refers to the islands of the Caribbean or West Indies, except the Bahamas. ... Richard Kempenfelt (1718 - August 1782) was a British rear-admiral. ... Jump to: navigation, search Map of the Bay of Biscay. ... Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (March 8, 1726 - August 5, 1799) was a British admiral. ...

The comte de Guichen was, by the testimony of his contemporaries, a most accomplished, valorous, brave and high-minded gentleman. It is probable that he had more scientific knowledge than any of his English contemporaries and opponents. But as a commander in war he was notable chiefly for his skill in directing the orderly movements of a fleet, and seems to have been satisfied with formal operations, which were possibly elegant but could lead to no substantial result. He had none of the combative instincts of his countryman Suffren, or of the average British admiral. Statue of Suffren - Museum of the Navy, Toulon. ...

See vicomte de Noailles, Marins et soldats français en Amérique (1903); and E Chevalier, Histoire de Ia marine française pendant la guerre de l'indépendence américaine (1877).

See: E. Taillemite, Dictionnaire des marins français (2002)

Reference

• This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.