Nearly 400 years of naval history

Between 1669 and 1683, Colbert, followed by his son Seignelay, continued the work undertaken by Richelieu and set up the administration of the merchant and fighting navies. In 1690, during the Battle of Béveziers, 100 ships equipped with 80 canons each demonstrated the firepower of France’s Royal Navy and the excellence of the arsenals and shipyards. These pre-industrial sites were the expression of the sovereign State and already housed a record number of cutting-edge skills, technologies and materials. They can also be considered as the lifeblood of the cities, in which work was handed down through the generations. The expertise of shipwrights was particularly sought after, followed by that of construction engineers. As revolutions, empires and restorations came and went, the navy experienced mixed fortunes, and the naval dockyards reflected these developments, adapting their number and specialisations to the needs of the time.

After the First World War, the navy was entirely rebuilt, prioritising speed and firepower. The decree of 1927 organised the naval dockyards and the Navy; the Front Populaire nationalised the weapons factories, thus bringing the site of Saint-Tropez, specialised in torpedoes, under State control. The arsenals worked flat out up to the Second World War. However, this conflict left the fleet, ports and naval dockyards in a pitiful state.

After the reconstruction, major projects for emblematic ships were launched, such as escort ships and the two aircraft carriers – the Clemenceau in 1959 and the Foch in 1961. The great deterrence project was launched at the initiative of General de Gaulle. The launch of the Redoutable in 1967 in Cherbourg, the first French nuclear-powered submarine, equipped with France’s first sea-launched nuclear missiles, was a real achievement.