Hubert de Brienne, Comte de Conflans

Hubert de Brienne, Comte de Conflans (* 1690 in Paris ; † January 27, 1777 ibid) was a French Vice Admiral and Marshal of France . He lost the decisive naval battle in Quiberon Bay during the Seven Years' War .

Life

He was the son of Henri Jacob marquis de Conflans and Marie du Bouchet. He joined the French Navy in 1706 and took part in the War of the Spanish Succession . He served on ships off Spain, in the West Indies (1714), then in a campaign against the pirates of the barbarian states (1716), in the fight against pirates in the West Indies (1718), in the Eastern Mediterranean (1721) and again in the West Indies (1723). In 1727 he was made a lieutenant. He served temporarily with the naval troops in Rochefort .

His first command was over the Charente in the West Indies. In 1734 he was appointed captain. During the War of the Austrian Succession he succeeded in 1744 with two other ships in conquering the British Northumberland . In 1746, he managed to capture another British warship. During the war he proved himself by successfully escorting larger convoys of transport or merchant ships to the West Indies with a few warships. In 1747 he was appointed governor of Saint-Domingue . However, he was initially unable to take up the post because he was captured by the British on the way. After the Peace of Aachen he was released and temporarily took over the post of governor. He was appointed chief d'escadre (rear admiral ) and in 1752 lieutenant général des armées navales.

In the first years of the Seven Years' War he commanded the French fleet in the ports on the Atlantic. In 1756 he was made Vice Admiral and in 1758 Marshal of France. At first he could hardly be active because the few operational ships were needed for trips to the colonies. That changed in 1759 when a French army landing in Scotland was planned. Brienne received orders to gather and protect the transport ships in the Bay of Quiberon. After Admiral Edward Hawke's fleet , which was blocking the main French port of Brest, had to leave this position due to a storm, Brienne took the opportunity to sail with the French navy. On November 20, he came across some British warships off the Bay of Quiberon and pursued them. In doing so, he came across Hawke's main fleet, which had since followed the French fleet. Hoping that the British would not dare to follow in the storm prevailing at the time, Brienne ordered the French fleet to enter the bay. The British followed, however, inflicting a crushing defeat on the French. With this defeat and the one in the Battle of Lagos , the French Navy was largely eliminated.

literature

• Georg von Alten (Hrsg.): Handbook for Army and Fleet. Encyclopedia of Martial Sciences and Allied Fields. Volume 2: Bayreuth - Steam Collector. Bong, Berlin et al. 1910, p. 834 .
• Alastair Wilson, Joseph F. Callo: Who's who in naval history. From 1550 to the present. Routledge, London et al. 2004, ISBN 0-415-30828-3 , pp. 59 f.