Ferdinand Alphonse Hamelin

Ferdinand Alphonse Hamelin (born September 2, 1796 in Pont-l'Évêque , Calvados , † January 16, 1864 in Paris ) was a French admiral and Minister of the Navy.

Hamelin entered the naval service as early as 1807, accompanied his uncle, the Admiral Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin , to Indian waters, became an ensign in 1808, drove the Algerian pirates in pairs as commander of a frigate in the Mediterranean in 1827 and also took, after a broadcast in the South Seas, took part in the expedition against Algiers with distinction in 1830.

In 1836 he was promoted to captain of the liner , in 1842 to rear admiral, and in 1844 he was appointed commander of the French station in the South Seas. Dismissed from Oceania shortly before the February Revolution , he was appointed Vice Admiral by the Republic on July 7th.

In 1849 he became General Inspector in Toulon and Rochefort , then Lake Prefect in Toulon and member of the Admiralty Council.

In 1853 he was given command of the training squadron in the Mediterranean and, when the outbreak of war with Russia threatened, sailed with it, first to the Besika-Bai and from there in conjunction with the British fleet into the Black Sea in November.

During the Crimean War , he led the bombardment of Odessa on April 22, 1854 , destroyed part of the Russian merchant fleet that had fled there, but otherwise achieved few military successes. He rendered more substantial services in the crossing of the armies of the Western powers from Varna to the Crimea . Hamelin's admiral ship Ville de Paris suffered most severely in the five-hour terrible fire of the Allied fleet, which opened against Sevastopol on October 17 and which the fortress returned from the fortress .

Recalled to France on December 23, 1854, he was appointed admiral and senator and in April 1855 was entrusted with the portfolio of the Ministry of the Navy, which he held until 1860.

personal data
SURNAME	Hamelin, Ferdinand Alphonse
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French admiral
DATE OF BIRTH	September 2, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH	Pont-l'Évêque (Calvados)
DATE OF DEATH	January 16, 1864
Place of death	Paris