Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez

Vice-Admiral Pierre André de Suffren de Saint-Tropez, bailli de Suffren (, also ; 17 July 1729 – 8 December 1788) was a French naval officer. Beginning his career during the War of the Austrian Succession, he briefly served in the Maltese Navy before fighting in the Seven Years' War, where Suffren was taken prisoner by the British at the Battle of Lagos. Promoted to captain in 1772, he served under Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing during the naval battles of the American Revolutionary War, taking part in the siege of Savannah in 1779.

Suffren was subsequently appointed to serve in the Indian Ocean under Thomas d'Estienne d'Orves, but assumed command himself after d'Estienne's death. Leading a large fleet, he fought five intense and evenly matched battles for command of the sea against British Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes. Through these battles, Suffren managed to secure French dominance of the Indian Ocean until the conclusion of the war at the Treaty of Paris, although this did not lead to any permanent gains. After his return to France, he was promoted to the rank of vice admiral, and died shortly before he was to take command of the Brest squadron of the Ponant Fleet.

Early life Pierre André de Suffren was born on 17 July 1729 in the Château de Saint-Cannat to the family of Marquis Paul de Suffren, the third son of an old nobility from Provence with two daughters and three other sons. In October 1743, as the War of the Austrian Succession was raging, Suffren, aged 14, went to Toulon to undertaken naval studies as a Garde-Marine. However, he spent only 6 months ashore before he was appointed on a ship.

War of the Austrian Succession

Suffren served on the 64-gun Solide and took part in the Battle of Toulon in 1744. During the battle, Solide engaged HMS Northumberland. In the spring of 1745, Suffren transferred to Pauline, part of a 5-ship and 2-frigate squadron under Captain Jean-Baptiste Mac Nemara, sent to America to harass British forces. At his return, Suffren served on the 60-gun Trident, under Captain d'Estourmel, and took part in the Duc d'Anville expedition. Suffren graduated from the Gardes-Marine in 1747 as an ensign, and worked on commissioning the brand new 74-gun Monarque, under Captain La Bédoyère, in a squadron under Henri-François des Herbiers, Marquis de l'Estenduère.

Suffren took part in the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre on 25 October 1747, where La Bédoyère was killed and Monarque, badly damaged, was captured. Suffren was taken prisoner by the British. Following the end of the war in 1748 with the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Suffren joined the navy of the Order of Saint John. He served in several commercial expeditions on the navy's galleys, escorting merchantmen and defending them against attacks from Barbary pirates. In late 1754, Suffren left the navy of the Order of Saint John and departed Malta to return to Toulon.

Seven Years' War

By 1756, Suffren was once again serving in the French navy at Toulon and had risen to ship-of-the-line lieutenant. At the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, Suffren was appointed to the 64-gun Orphée, part of a 12-ship fleet under Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière tasked with ferrying 12,000 men under Armand de Vignerot du Plessis to invade British-held Menorca. The squadron departed on 10 April, arriving on 17 and landing troops; the British garrison retreated to St. Philip's Castle where they were besieged by the French. Patrolling between Menorca and Mallorca to prevent British relief efforts to support Fort St. Philip, La Galissonière intercepted a British fleet under Admiral of the Blue John Byng, leading to the tactically inconclusive Battle of Minorca. Byng's fleet returned to England, and Fort St. Philip fell on 29 July.

In 1757, Suffren transferred to the 80-gun Océan, flagship of a 6-ship and 2-frigate squadron under Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran. The squadron departed Toulon in November, bound for Brest. On 7 December, it called Cartagena to resupply, and found itself blockaded by a British squadron under Henry Osborne. A French relief squadron under Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville attempted to break the blockade, but was destroyed by Osborne's squadron at the Battle of Cartagena, as La Clue failed to sortie. Suffren witnessed the capture of Foudroyant and Orphée on 28 February 1758. La Clue's squadron eventually returned to Toulon.

Toulon was blockaded by a British fleet under Edward Boscawen but on 16 August 1758 La Clue seized an opportunity to make a sortie with 12 ships and 3 frigates. The frigate HMS Gibraltar detected La Clue's squadron and reported to Boscawen, who moved to intercept. Meanwhile, the French squadron failed to maintain formation and scattered. In the ensuing Battle of Lagos, Océan ran aground in Almadora Bay and in violation of Portuguese neutrality was burnt by Boscawen's fleet while her crew was taken prisoner by the British, including Suffren. He returned to France after several months and was left without employment at sea for several years.

Interwar period

On the return of peace in 1763 Suffren intended again to do the service in the caravans which was required to qualify him to hold the high and lucrative posts of the order. He was, however, named to the command of the 20-gun xebec Caméléon, which he cruised against Barbary pirates. Shortly thereafter, he transferred on Singe, also a 20-gun xebec, part of a squadron under Louis Charles du Chaffault de Besné. He took part in the Larache expedition. On 18 August 1767, Suffren was promoted to frigate captain and called to Brest to serve on the 64-gun Union, flagship of a squadron headed by Breugnon.

After the end of the expedition, Suffren returned to Malta to resume escort duty with the order. He spent four years, rising from Knight to Commander. In February 1772, he was promoted to ship-of-the-line captain and returned to Toulon to take command of the 26-gun frigate Mignonne. He conducted two patrols in the Eastern Mediterranean. In 1776, de Besné appointed Suffren to the command of the 26-gun frigate Alcmène. She departed for a training cruise to drill new navy officers. From that time till the beginning of the American Revolutionary War he commanded vessels in the squadron of evolution which the French government had established for the purpose of training its officers.

American Revolutionary War

Anglo-French relations deteriorated in early 1778 in the context of the American Revolutionary War, with the action of 17 June 1778 constituting a step up announcing France's participation in the American Revolutionary War. Suffren was appointed to the fleet of Admiral Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing, leading a division comprising the 64-gun Fantasque, which he personally captained, and the frigates Aimable, Chimère and Engageante. The mission of his force was to support Franco-American efforts in the Battle of Rhode Island by attacking a British squadron of five frigates anchored in Narragansett Bay, off Newport, comprising HMS Juno, HMS Flora, HMS Lark, HMS Orpheus and HMS Cerebus. On 5 August 1778, Suffren entered the Bay and anchored next to the British squadron, which cut their cables and scuttled all five frigates along with five smaller vessels by fire to avoid capture.

The French fleet sailed to Martinique, where Suffren's division joined up with it, and from there to Grenada, leading to the Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779. Fantasque was at the front of the vanguard, preceding the 74-gun Zélé. When the two fleets came in contact, she came under fire from the 74-gun HMS Royal Oak and the 70-gun HMS Boyne, sustaining 62 men killed or wounded. After the battle, Estaing sent Suffren with a 2-ship and 3-frigate division to secure the surrender of Carriacou and Union Island. On 7 September 1779, Estaing ordered Suffren to blockade the mouth of Savannah River in order to cover the landing of French troops as part of the siege of Savannah and prevent British ships from escaping. Suffren led the 64-gun Artésien and Provence, and the frigates Fortunée, Blanche and Chimère, sailing into the river and forcing the British to scuttle several ships, including the post ship HMS Rose.

On 1 March 1780, Louis XVI granted Suffren an annual pension of 1,500 livres in recognition of his services. In April, Suffren was given command of the 74-gun , part of a two-ship squadron along with Marseillais, under Captain d'Albert de Rions. They set sail on 19 May 1780 to patrol off Portugal, and joined up with a division under Chef d'escadre Antoine Hilarion de Beausset in Cádiz on 17 June. He then joined up with a combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova. On 9 August, the fleet intercepted a large British convoy, leading to the action of 9 August 1780. The convoy's naval escort, comprising the 74-gun , under Captain Sir John Moutray, and the frigates Thetis and Southampton, fled before the vastly superior combined fleet. Suffren attempted to give chase, but the escort's copper sheathing gave them a decisive advantage, and he abandoned the pursuit to assist with the capture of the convoy's merchantmen. After the battle, Suffren wrote a letter to Antoine de Sartine, Secretary of State of the Navy, to advocate for the French Navy to copper its own ships.

Indian Ocean campaign

With the outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, France and the Dutch Republic found themselves allied against the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Dutch expected the British to send an expeditionary force to try and capture the Dutch Cape Colony, and Suffren was given command of a 5-ship squadron to reinforce it. The task force comprised the 74-gun Héros (under Suffren) and Annibal (under Trémignon), and the 64-gun Artésien (under Cardaillac), Sphinx (under Du Chilleau) and Vengeur (under Forbin), as well as the 16-gun corvette Fortune (under Lieutenant Lusignan), and seven transports carrying the Pondicherry Regiment under Brigade-general Thomas Conway. All these ships had a copper sheathing, except for Fortune and Annibal.

Battle of Porto Praya

The squadron departed Brest on 22 March 1781. En route, Artésien, which had originally been appointed to a shorter mission, found herself short on water, and Captain de Cardaillac requested permission to resupply at Santiago. Suffren gave permission but, unwilling to scatter his forces, ordered his entire squadron to move into Praia Harbour. Arriving there at 0830 the morning of 16 April, Artésien spotted five British warships at anchor; she turned, signalling "enemy ships in sight". Understanding that random chance had put him in contact with George Johnstone's squadron, and violating neutrality laws, Suffren ordered an immediate attack. At 1000, Suffren's squadron attacked, precipitating the Battle of Porto Praya. Having scattered and disorganised Johnstone's squadron, Suffren rushed to the Cape Colony and arrived at Simon's Bay on 21 June. The Pondicherry Regiment disembarked and started fortifying the colony against attacks from land and from the sea, while the fleet repaired its ships and had its sick given medical attention in hospitals ashore.

Johnstone arrived in the morning of 21 July, left two frigates to watch the bay, and sailed on to Saldanha Bay. On 24 July, Suffren set sail with four ships of the line, chased away the two British frigates, and patrolled the area around the colony to ascertain the intentions of the British. Satisfied that Johnstone had abandoned any plans of attacking the Cape Colony, he resupplied and sailed to the French colony of Isle de France with the rest of the squadron, arriving on 28 July.

Preliminary operations at Isle de France

Until the outbreak of the Anglo-French War, the French colony of Pondicherry maintained a small squadron under François-Jean-Baptiste l'Ollivier de Tronjoli, comprising the 64-gun Brillant (under Tronjoli), the 40-gun frigate Pourvoyeuse (under Captain Saint-Orens, and three armed merchantmen: the 26-gun corvette Sartine (under du Chayla), the 24-gun Brisson (under Captain du Chézeau), and the 24-gun Lawriston. During the British siege of Pondicherry in 1778, Tronjoli had lost some of his ships and escaped to Isle de France with the survivors, arriving there in late September. Pondichéry fell to the British on 17 October. With these reinforcements, the island was guarded by the 64-gun Brillant, the 54-gun Flamand, the frigates Pourvoyeuse and Consolante, and the smaller Subtile (a 24-gun corvette), Elisabeth (a fluyt) and Sylphide (a 12-gun corvette). Furthermore, on 28 December 1778, the 74-gun Orient departed Brest under Thomas d'Estienne d'Orves to reinforce the colony, and on 27 March 1779, so did the 64-gun Sévère, under la Pallière, escorting the transports Hercule and Trois-Amis, arriving on 9 August 1779.

With four ships of the line now at his disposal, Tronjoli departed on 6 December 1779 to cruise off the Cape Colony, but to no avail, and he returned to Isle de France on 13 January 1780. On 3 February 1780, the 64-gun Bizarre departed Lorient to further reinforce Isle de France. After it was confirmed that the British had dispatched a squadron under Vice-admiral Sir Edward Hughes to the Indian Ocean, France sent a squadron comprising the 64-gun Protée and Ajax, and the frigate Charmante (under Baron de la Haye), escorting 16 transports ferrying the Austrasian Regiment under Brigadier Duchemin de Chenneville. En route, the convoy encountered a British squadron under Admiral George Rodney, yielding the action of 24 February 1780 in which Protée sacrificed herself and tree smaller transports to lure the British away from the others. Charmante returned to Lorient to bring the news of the engagement, while the other survivors sailed on to Isle de France. By 1780, Tronjoly was recalled to France, leaving d'Orves in command with a total of six ships of the line at his disposal.

Suffren arrived at Isle de France on 25 October 1781. The island had been selected as the base for French operations in the Indian Ocean, falling under the overall command of Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau. On 7 December 1781, d'Orves led a 27-ship fleet to Ceylon, with his flag on Orient. He had 11 ships of the line, 3 frigates and 3 corvettes at his disposal. En route, d'Orves changed his objectif from Trincomalee to Madras. On 19 January, Sévère detected a strange sail, and d'Orves detached Héros and Artésien to investigate. Suffren closed in, making signals according to tables captured at Porto Praya on the East Indiaman Hinchinbrooke, until the ship made signals that he was unable to answer. A chase ensued, and with the night Suffren abandoned the pursuit to rejoin the fleet. On 21, the fleet encountered the same ship again, and again detached Héros, Artésien and Vengeur, but this time with other ships deploying as to ensure communication between the pursuers and the main body of the fleet, allowing Suffren to press on his chase. Suffren caught up with his quarry on 22 around noon and forced her to surrender. She was the 50-gun HMS Hannibal, under Captain Christy, which the French pressed into their service as Petit Annibal.

Battle of Sadras

In the following days, d'Orves's failing health deteriorated to the point where he was not fit for duty, and he delegated command to Suffren. The French intended to surprise the British ships anchored in the roads of Madras. The fleet arrived North of Madras on 5 February 1782, and its light units started preying on coastal merchantmen and capturing cargo of rice. However, the monsoon caused strong winds from the South which trapped the French North of Madras, while at the same time favouring the return of Hughes's squadron from Ceylon to Madras. Upon Hughes's arrival, Lord Macartney warned him of the presence of the French squadron, and Hughes anchored his ships under the protection of Fort St. George and Black Town. On 9 February 1782, Hughes received reinforcements with the arrival of a squadron comprising the 64-gun HMS Monmouth, the 74-gun Hero, the 50-gun Isis and the armed transport Manilla, under James Alms. D'Orves died the same day at 1600. Suffren re-appointed his captains to the ships of the squadron: Captain de Lapallière (Sometimes spelt "la Pallière" Tromelin-Lanuguy took on Subtile; and Galifet took Sylphide.) General Duchemin transferred from Orient to Héros.

On 14 February, the usual monsoon wind from the North-East resumed, allowing Suffren's squadron to sail South. In the evening, Fine, under Perrier de Salvert, came in view of Madras harbour and Hughes's squadron. Seeing Hugues anchored in a very strong defensive position, Suffren decided to sail off the coast, but to his surprise, Hugues left the safety of the forts and gave chase. Suffren deployed a frigate screen to warn his squadron of Hugues' moves, but during the night Pourvoyeuse drifted away from the fleet due to a navigation error, while Fine lost sight of the British ships, and both thus failed to keep Suffren appraised of Hughes's position.

In the morning, signals from Fine informed Suffren that HMS Montmouth, Hero, Isis, Aigle and Burford where approaching the French transports. Suffren rushed with his warships to protect the convoy, and Hughes ordered his ships to regroup and form a line of battle. In the morning of 17 February, the fleets were about 6 km apart (one League and a half and at 1500 he closed in within gun range, starting the Battle of Sadras.) Suffren sustained about 30 men killed and 100 wounded, and light damage to his riggings. At 1900 he broke contact. Hyder Ali despatched André Piveron de Morlat, the French ambassador, to act as an intermediary between Suffren and himself, along with two of his officiers. Suffren negotiated an agreement that French troops would retain their own command; that a 4,000-man cavalry and 6,000-man infantry force would reinforce them; and that they be paid 24 Lakh rupee a year. Suffren landed his troops at Porto Nove, and departed on 23 March to search for the British fleet.

On 10 April, the two fleets came into view, and they spent two days in manoeuvres, trying to gain an advantage on the other. On 12, the Battle of Providien broke out, leaving both squadrons damaged. Suffren retreated to the safety of the Dutch forts of Batacalo to repair, and tend to those members of his crews who were wounded or suffered from scurvy. Also known as Villeneuve-Cilart In The Influence of Sea Power upon History, Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote:

The French historian Georges Lacour-Gayet cited Suffren's instructions before the Battle of Sadras as reminiscent of Horatio Nelson's style, in that he was giving advance instruction for a variety of scenarios and was attempting to take the British in a cross-fire and destroy their squadron. In 1942, the American Admiral Ernest King listed his five favourite admirals of the past as Jervis, Nelson, Tromp, Suffren and Farragut.

On the other hand, Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases, who had served as a lieutenant in the French navy, described Suffren to Napoleon as "A hard man, very weird, egoistic in the extreme, bad-tempered, poor comrade in arms, liked of no one." More recently, François Caron stated "while Chevalier de Suffren displayed an indisputable bravery and an incomparable tactical insight, an analysis of his action shows it to be banal and disappointing." Rémi Monaque offers a more nuanced assessment, finding Suffren an aggressive and innovative commander comparable to Ruyter and Nelson, but also one whose lack of didactic qualities and social graces made him misunderstood and disliked by his captains, and thus failed to develop his full potential.

Monuments and memorials

Eight ships of the French Navy have been named Suffren in honour of Suffren de Saint Tropez. A number of streets and avenues through France are named in Suffren's honour. In Paris, the Avenue de Suffren runs alongside the Champ de Mars.