Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville (June 3, 1745 – August 19, 1804) was a French admiral and a hero of the American Revolutionary War and of the Napoleonic wars.

Early life

Latouche Tréville was born in Rochefort-sur-mer, Charente-Maritime, in a family of sailors. At the age of 13, he joined the Gardes-Marines ("Naval Guards"), and took part in numerous naval fights during the Seven Years' War. He took part in his first fight during 1759 aboard the Dragon, under his own father's orders, and served abord the Louise and the Intrépide, the Tonnant in 1762, the Garonne in 1763, the Hardi and the Bricole in 1765.

In September 1768, aged 23, he was promoted to enseigne de vaisseau. Under pressure from his family, he quit the Navy to become a cavalry officer, ranking captain in April 1769, and serving as an aid to the governors of Martinique and Saint-Domingue in 1770 and 1771.

In 1772, he rejoined the Navy as "capitaine de brûlot". He served in Rochefort between 1773 and 1776.

American Revolution

In 1776, he transported ammunition from France to the United States of America. In May 1777, he was promoted to lieutenant de vaisseau and was granted the command of the corvette the Rossignol, which was used to escort convoys. He captured two English privateers and three merchantmen.

In the spring of 1780, as captain of the frigate Hermione at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, he was entrusted with General La Fayette as a passenger on a transatlantic voyage from France to Boston. He took part in the American campaign under command of Des Touches and was involved in several battles, including a fierce but indecisive action in June 1780 against the 32 gun British frigate Iris (formerly USS Hancock) under the command of James Hawker. He was promoted to capitaine de vaisseau in June 1781.
thumb|[[Naval battle of Louisbourg, 21 July 1781, by Auguste-Louis de Rossel de Cercy.]]
On July 21, along with the frigate Astrée (under La Pérouse), he attacked an English convoy near the coast of New Scotland in the Naval battle of Louisbourg; the escort ships Jack and Thorn were captured, along with three merchantmen, and brought back to Boston. He also took part in the battle of Yorktown.

Latouche-Tréville was granted command of the vessel Aigle which, along with the Gloire, ferried funds and equipment for the fleet of Admiral Vaudreil. On September 5, 1782, he sunk the English vessel Hector, but ran aground in the mouth of the Delaware river, and was captured by an English division on the 12th. He was liberated when the peace was signed in 1783.

In 1784, he succeeded Bruni d'Entrecasteaux as vice-director of the Harbours and Arsenals. In 1786 he became Inspector General of Gunnery, and in 1787, Chancellor of the Duke of Orléans. In 1788, he added "Tréville" to his name, becoming "Latouche-Tréville".

French Revolution

At the beginning of the French Revolution, in 1789, Latouche Tréville was a deputy of the Second Estate (the nobility) and a member of the National Constituent Assembly, taking a liberal posture and contributing to the foundation of the Republic.

In September 1791, after Louis XVI approved of the Constitution, the National Constituent Assembly was disbanded, and Latouche-Tréville took the command of the vessel Languedoc and of a four-vessel division which he ferried from Brest to Toulon. He joined contre-amiral Truguet and supported the operation of the Army of Italy. He also took part to the attack against Sardinia in October 1792, which turned out to be a failure when the expeditionary corps, landed on February 14, was put in disarray by the Sards. Latouche-Tréville and Truguet then set sail for Toulon.

In January 1793, he was promoted to contre-amiral. On January 1, war broke out with England, and Latouche-Tréville began designing plans for an invasion of England. On March 28, his plan for a landing, notably suggesting the building of a specialised fleet of light troop transport ships, was adopted.

In March, he was granted command of the Naval Army of Brest. As soon as he took his position, he was reported by some subordinates as a nobility. He was arrested in September as a "suspect", at the height of the Terror. He spent one year in the Force prison, and was freed only after the fall of Robespierre.

Under the Directoire, he was rehabilitated and regained his rank in December 1795, but was offered no position, and went to Montargis. He was desperate enough so that, in 1799, he ran an announcement in the Moniteur newspaper, asking for a position as privateer.

Napoleonic Era

In 1801, Bonaparte gave command of a fleet in Brest to Latouche-Tréville. Interested by the plans for the invasion of England, Bonaparte and Minister Forfait gave him command of a flotilla in Boulogne. In this position, on August 4 and August 15, 1801, Latouche-Tréville repelled the attacks of Admiral Nelson; The English lost 6 ships sunk, one captured, 44 dead (including Parker, aid to Nelson), 126 wounded and 3 prisoners; the French lost one captured ship, 8 killed, 12 missing and 34 wounded.

On October 30, 1801, with the Treaty of Amiens, Latouche-Tréville was given command of the fleet of Rochefort, which carried part of the leading 23000 men of the Army of Rhine for the expedition against rebel black slaves in Saint-Domingue, under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse. Arriving first at Saint-Domingue, he and general Boudet captured Port-au-Prince and Léogane. Latouche-Tréville managed to obtain the peaceful surrender of General Laplume, while, in the South, General Leclerc forced Toussaint L'Ouverture and Christophe to submit to French authority.

With Villaret de Joyeuse's departure in April 1802, Latouche-Tréville stayed in Saint-Domingue with 4 ships-of-the-line, 9 frigates and 5 corvettes. After the restoration of slavery, on May 20, 1802, a new rebellion broke out, which overwhelmed the yellow fever-stricken army of General Leclerc. Latouche-Tréville defended the harbours in the South, giving the Western part to Admiral Willaumez. After the English entered the war, and before Rochambeau and his army were captured, Latouche-Tréville obtained a right of free crossing due to his poor health and returned to France in October 1803.

He was made a vice-Admiral in December 1803, taking command of the fleet of Mediterranean Sea. He put his flag on the Bucentaure, regularly repelling the forces of Nelson which blockaded the harbour.

A new plan for the invasion of England was drawn up, with 2500 ships and gunships. Napoleon would count upon Latouche-Tréville, who would command the fleet designed to hold the English Channel during the landing.

Admiral Latouche-Tréville died on August 18, 1804, aged 59, suffering a heart attack after climbing the hill to the signal station to get a view of the English out at sea.
He would be replaced by Admiral Villeneuve.

Trivia

• "I have no doubt that as soon as he will receive a mission, he would be the kind of man who, to accomplish it and execute his orders, would risk encountering and fighting us". -- Horatio Nelson.

• "...from the time of his meeting Captain Hawker in the Iris, I never heard of his acting other than as a poltroon and a liar. Contempt is the best mode of treating such a miscreant." -- Horatio Nelson

• Three warships of the French Navy have been named in his honour, including the presently operational F70 type frigate Latouche-Tréville; see (French ship Latouche-Tréville for the others).

• Commonly repeated mistake about Latouche-Tréville's record is the "battle against the Chesapeake (March 1781)" In fact, Latouche-Tréville participated in the often forgotten Battle of Chesapeake Bay. This error can be traced to George Six's Dictionnaire Biographique des Généraux et Amiraux Français de la Révolution et de l'Empire 1792–1814, 1934, and often cited from there.