• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

VAdm. Armand Louis Charles Gustave Besnard

The Cabinet of M. Bourgeois announced the intention of resigning as soon as the Chamber of Deputies reassembled, being no longer able to guarantee the direction of affairs since the Senate's refusal to vote credits had the result oí obstructing the maintenance and relief of the troops in Madagascar. When the Chamber came together on April 23 the Premier tendered the resignation of the Cabinet to (lie President, and it was accepted. On 27 April 1896 M. Meline, the Protectionist leader, was summoned by the President and intrusted with the formation of u Cabinet, although he had been prominent in the minority that opposed the income tax as proposed by the Bourgeois Cabinet. M. Méline formed a Cabinet composed exclusively of Moderate Republicans, Radicals having refused to join, just as Moderates had declined to join M. Bourgeois when he attempted to form a mixed Cabinet. The new ministry was constituted on 28 April 1896 as follows: Premier and Minister of Agriculture. Félix Jules Méline; Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Hanotaux; Minister of Finance, Georges Cochery : Minister of Justice, M. Darían; Minister of the Interior, M. Barthou; Minister of War. Gen. Billot; Minister of Marine, Admiral Besnard.

Most of the changes which Edouard Etienne Antoine Lockroy introduced during his first tenure of office from 1895 and 1896 were swept away by Admiral Besnard. But the change of Ministry ceased henceforth to involve any risk of a cessation of the notable activity in submarines. Admiral Besnard, though reputed to belong to the old school, carried on the work begun by M. Lockroy [when Lockroy was in office for the second time, was able to gauge the considerable progress that had been achieved in his absence, and M. de Lanessan followed in the footsteps of M. Lockroy, with the result that France by 1900 was on the eve of possessing a veritable flotilla of submarine boats].

Admiral Fournier had advanced a proposal to reconstruct the whole French fleet, and what was yet more startling - to reconstruct it of ships absolutely identical in type. The old distinctions of battleship and cruiser, coast-defence ship, look-out ship torpedo-catcher, and all the rest, were to disappear utterly from the face of French waters. The keywords of the new scheme were homogeneity and autonomy : the fleet is to be homogenous through all its units, and the archetype of the autonomous unit was the Dupuy-de-Lome, generally classed as an armored cruiser. Admiral Besnard, the in-coming Minister of Marine, had publicly recognised a type of vessel very similar to Admiral Fournier's ideal as the best combative unit that a navy can possess.

On 10 December 1896 Premier Meline, M. Cochery, Minister of Finance, and Admiral Besnard. Minister of Marine, addressed the Budget Committee of the Chamber of Deputies on the subject of the amendment of M. Lockroy, asking for a credit of 200.000.000f. for the navy. Admiral Besnard declared that the condition of the navy was not so unfavorable as had been suggested by the opponents of the amendment, but the Government had for several months contemplated an increase of the strength of the fleet, aid would soon decide to ask the Chamber for money to carry out their plan. The Government, however, would not accept any suggestion to re-establish an extraordinary navy budget.

In April 1897 Vice-Admiral Besnard's Bill for the reconstruction of the French fleet was laid upon the table of the Chamber. Its object was to get a grant of 80,000,000 francs, so that the French Navy may be put upon an equal footing with those of the other European powers. Admiral Besnard, in his preamble to the Bill, asserted that there is urgent need for the Government to begin the construction of a 12,000 ton ironclad, four cruisers of 7,500 tons, and two of 2,500 tons, four torpedo-boat destroyers, and nine coast defence torpedo boats, the cost to be defrayed by six instalments in the yearly budgets between 1897 and 1902. If these demands were granted Admiral Beenard considered that the whole of the program would be realized by 1905, and he urged that the great activity in the dockyards of other countries gave weight to the Bill.

The amount of money voted for coal for the French Navy for 1896 appears to Lave been either underestimated or else there had been a too lavish use of it, for Admiral Besnard issued a circular drawing attention to the fact that greater economy in the consumption of coal must be observed in 1897.

During the 1897 discussion on the naval estimates in the Chamber, Vice-Admiral Besnard, Minister of Marine, announced that it had been decided to effect important changes in dockyard organization, which would comprise the complete separation of the supervision of ships already constructed from those building.

The main principle is to be continuity of command of the ship from the day she leaves the hands of the constructor, the naval officer then appointed to the command retaining the same ship till promoted or retired. It will be his duty to be responsible for the armament, mobilization and repairs of the ship, and he alone will be the judge of any alterations to be introduced, as the ship will never afterwards be placed in the hands of the Constructive Department.

The new duties of the naval officer will necessitate the creation of a new department in the dockyards, that of "Direction de la flotte," at the head of which in each port will be placed a rear-admiral as inspector-general. The "Service de la flotte" will have its own storehouses and will be in a position to maintain all the ships in its charge in an effective condition. The Constructive Department will only intervene when the repairs are such as to necessitate the assistance of the full dockyard staff; in such a case the "Service de la flotte" will act towards the Constructive Department in the same way as if the work was being performed by private contract; it will superintend and have entire control of the work performed, and all materials supplied and any changes required in the working hours of the workmen employed will have to receive its sanction, so that it will not be possible in the future to charge other expenses to the repairs of ships with a view of hiding mistakes made in estimates for new constructions - a practice which has often been complained of and condemned by members of the Chamber.