Jean François Renaudin

Counter-Admiral Jean François Renaudin (; 13 July 1750 – 29 April 1809 Renaudin served on the fluyt Dorade, on which he took part in four battles of the American Revolutionary War. he was appointed to command the 20-gun corvette Perdrix, cruising off Belle-Ile and Rochefort. He later transferred to the frigate Andromaque, on which sustained a fight against a ship of the line and four Spanish frigates. and abandoned his ship with the first British boat, leaving his men behind in disregard for military customs and the 1765 standing order that Captains had to be last to abandon ship. Though his account of the event insinuated that he was on a boat close to Vengeur when she foundered, he was in fact dining in the mess of Culloden at the moment of the sinking. Taken in captivity in Tavistock, he wrote an account of the fight of Vengeur on 1 Messidor an II (19 June 1794), signed and had it co-signed by his staff, comprising, Jean Hugine, Louis Rousseau, Pelet, Trouvée, Lussot and others.

In France, Renaudin was assumed to be dead, and promoted to counter admiral on 29 August 1794. His return astonished the convention on 10 September 1794, when Jean-Jacques Bréard stated:

Nevertheless, in 1847, Alphonse de Lamartine wrote a description where Renaudin was killed, cut in half by a cannon shot like Dupetit-Thouars, and Adolphe Thiers later wrote an account repeating Barère's version, where Vengeur refused to surrender. Remarkably, neither the national Archives, nor the archives of the Navy, nor the archives of the War Council nor Renaudin's personal file mention any court-martial that should have been held automatically for the loss of the ship, in accordance with French law.

Later life

Renaudin was promoted to counter admiral on 29 August 1794, before obtaining command of the 3rd Squadron of the naval army of the Ocean (the Brest fleet under Admiral Martin), a 6-ship division, on 29 October 1794, In late February 1795, Renaudin's division left Brest to reinforce the naval forces of Toulon, where it arrived on 3 April 1795.

On 24 March 1798, succeeding Admiral Lelarge. who had fallen in disfavour after an altercation with Bruix. On 23 September 1799, Renaudin became general inspector of oceanic harbours from Cherbourg to Bayonne. He retired on 4 April 1801, and died in Le Gua.

Honours

Renaudin's name is engraved on the Arc de Triomphe (40th column). Three ships of the French navy named Renaudin in his honour.