French Navy - 1896 - Minister of Marine
From 1870 to 1896 thirty-one Ministers held the portfolio of Marine in France ; the vitality of the Navy must have been indeed great to have survived such frequent changes. Those who directed the administration during this period passed away without leaving any durable impression. Some have initiated various reforms, but no one had been able to carry out the changes necessary to bring the administration up to the level of the requirements of the age. In spite of all, the fleet, thanks to the excellence of the personnel, had not suffered very much from the instability of power.
The Minister of Marine was almost always selected from the admirals or Members of Parliament, whether senators or deputies. His power is enormous. He is only responsible to the chambers. The President of the Republic contented himself with countersigning his decisions, and never opposes them. Parliament alone has the right of control, but exercised it only as far as the Estimates were concerned, and avoids interfering in matters of detail. The Minister had absolute freedom in the choice of his subordinates, the principal of whom was chief of the staff, and is always a flag-officer of the Navy. The chief of the staff was the right hand man of the head of the office, and controled the various departments. His duties embraced, more especially, the shipbuilding program, the commissioning and the movements of ships, the mobilisation and distribution of the naval forces of the country, and the study of foreign Navies and of coast defences throughout the world. He had directly under his orders a rear-admiral who directed the three military sections of the general staff. Moreover, as all business had to pass through his hands, he was nearly always head of the Minister's cabinet.
The business of the Ministry was distributed between four main branches : personnel, materiel, ordnance, and accounts. The distribution of business among the different branches varies according to the ideas of the Minister. The Personnel Branch is conducted by a naval officer. It administers all the corps of the Navy officers of every kind, seamen, and troops of the Navy. It had charge of most of the schools, of martial-law, clothing, pay, allowances and hospitals. The personnel branch was divided into two sub-branches, and each of the latter into three sections.
The Materiel Branch was under a naval constructor. It was, primarily, a technical department - shipbuilding, maintenance and repairs of ships, being its principal work. It has charge of hydraulic works, though the plans of these are prepared and the works are carried out by engineers of the Bridges and Roads department. Among its other functions were included the supervision of transport, and the general supply of the needs of the Navy. Finally, the head of the materiel branch was head of the technical office and of new construction, on whom devolved the difficult task of preparing and controlling the plans of ships. The Materiel Branch was divided into three sections. The organisation of the Ordnance Branch is simple. It was only occupied with questions concerning guns and ammunition. It is directed by a General of Marine Artillery, and divided into two sections, the one charged with administration and works, the other with technical questions.
The accountant branch controled the finances of the department. Generally it was presided over by a principal clerk. One of the most important duties was the preparation of the estimates, a very heavy task, considering that the forecast of expenditure had to be drawn up a year before the commencement of, and two years before the close of, the financial year with which it deals. Moreover, as the budget presented by Government was always revised by the Chamber of Deputies, the accountant-general was obliged to do the same work over again more than once. The branch had, in addition, to supervise the mercantile marine, fisheries, foreshore (domanialite maritime), as well as all those miscellaneous services which could with difficulty be allocated to other departments. Six sections were under its orders.
Besides these four principal branches, there are in the Ministry of Marine two services, each of which take their orders from the chief of the staff. The first, the service of submarine defence, was directed by a post captain, and is concerned with all questions relating to torpedoes. The second, the hydrographical service, was under a rear-admiral, and had charge of the preparation of charts, of sailing directions, and scientific and nautical instruments.
The Administration des Invalides had amongst its duties to control all military pensions, and the pensions of the men of the ' Inscription Maritime,' certain matters relating to shipwrecks, assistance to sailors, etc. Finally, overlooking all the services, there was a central board of control, which had the right of examining all questions entailing expense, and of seeing to the carrying out of the regulations.
Besides its purely military attributes the Ministry of Marine had functions of a commercial character, which were due to the idea which prevailed in France of the duty which the Navy has to perform towards the sailors of the mercantile marine. It followed them from the day of their entry in the ranks of the Inscription Maritime to the day of their death, gave them pensions, succours their families, never abandons them, whether they serve in merchant vessels, or take to the fishing industry. It extended its protection over them at every stage of life, and by this means maintained the "Inscription Maritime" intact, as the chief source of supply for the manning of the Navy.
Boards and Committees sat at the Ministry of Marine, amongst Council which the 'Conseil Superieur' held the first place. Presided over by the Minister himself, it was composed of the two vice-admirals who command the Mediterranean and Northern Squadrons, the five vice-admirals who were maritime prefects, the chief of the staff, and the vice-admirals who had held both the post of commander-in-uhief at sea, as well as that of prefect maritime or chief of the staff. The Minister called the Board together when he thinks it necessary, ordinarily once a year, and consulted it on the program of new construction, the changes to be introduced in naval materiel, and all questions concerning the maritime defence of the country.
The Committee of Inspectors-general came next in order. Composed of three vice-admirals and a rear-admiral, it undertook the duties of inspector, and gave its opinion on all matters which arc submitted to it by the head of the department. The Works Board (Conseil des Travaux), which had been for Works a long time all-powerful in questions of materiel, was composed of nineteen members. The executive branch was represented by two vice-admirals, two rear-admirals and three post-captains ; the corps of constructors by its inspector-general, a director of naval construction and two constructors ; the marine artillery by two generals and a colonel ; the land service artillery by a general ; the department of Bridges and Roads by two engineers ; the corps of naval engineers by the engineer-in-chief.
The powers of the Board were very great. It worked out the plans of new ships in accordance with the main lines determined by the Minister, and went into and modified the plans of the constructors. It at the same time supervised everything relating to ordnance and torpedo materiel. In principle its powers extended over all naval materiel, alterations or refits of ships, fittings of new ships, buildings ashore, armament of coast batteries, etc. The creation of the Technical Office considerably reduced the duties of the Works Board. The composition of the latter had for a long time been the subject of the most severe criticism, and this because its action has not always been fortunate in its results. But it was hardly possible to expect of a number of prudent men the breadth of view and boldness necessary for the forefront of progress. Boards have often been, in the French Navy, the means of arresting progress, but have rarely taken the initiative in a step forward.
A very important committee, called the committee for the classification of officers for promotion, met every year at Paris. It drew up the list of officers of the rank of commander, lieutenant and sub-lieutenant, which it thought deserving of promotion by selection. Its duties were divided between two sub-committees. The first was composed of all officers of flag-rank and post-captains who are heads of a naval division, and have just commanded-in-chief at sea, of the chief of the staff of the navy, and of the director of personnel. It drew up a list of names twice or three times, according to the rank, the number of the entries to be made in each rank. The second sub-committee, consisting of the vice-admirals who are inspectors-general, the chief of the staff, and the director of personnel, drew up the final list according to seniority in each rank.
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