In the ancien Régime French Navy

History of the French Navy

Although the History of the French Navy goes back to the Middle Ages, its history can be said to effectively begin with Richelieu under Louis XIII.Since the establishment of her present territory, France had to face three major challenges on the naval level:...

, the rank of chef d'escadre (literally, squadron

Squadron (naval)

A squadron, or naval squadron, is a unit of 3-4 major warships, transport ships, submarines, or sometimes small craft that may be part of a larger task force or a fleet...

 commander, pronounced ʃɛf dɛskaːdʁ) was equivalent to the present-day rank of rear admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

. It was replaced in 1791 by the rank of "contre-amiral" (counter admiral

Counter Admiral

Counter admiral is a rank found in many navies of the world, but no longer used in English-speaking countries, where the equivalent rank is rear admiral...

).

Chefs d'escadre were naval generals. The first were created by Louis XIII

Louis XIII of France

Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...

 in 1627 - he had a "chef d'escadre of Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

" commanding the port of Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

, a chef d'escadre of Britanny commanding Brest

Brest, France

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

 et a chef d'escadre
of Guyenne

Guyenne

Guyenne or Guienne , , ; Occitan Guiana ) is a vaguely defined historic region of south-western France. The Province of Guyenne, sometimes called the Province of Guyenne and Gascony, was a large province of pre-revolutionary France....

 commanding Brouage. Each of these chefs d'escadres, as officiers d'épée

Officier d'épée

In the ancien Régime French Navy, an officier d'épée was a member of the "corps des officiers d'épée", one of the naval officer corps. This corps was divided between "officiers de vaisseau" et "officiers de port" . The other main corps was the administrative officier de plume....

, was flanked by a commissaire

Commissaire

Commissaire may refer to:*Commissaire , an official in competitive cycle sport, analogulous to a referee or judge*Commissaire de police, a French police rank...

 général, an officier de plume

Officier de plume

In the ancien Régime French Navy, officiers de plume were officers working in the administration of ports and colonies, as opposed to officiers d'épée, who were officers at sea...

.

Their numbers grew rapidly: in 1635 a chef d'escadre of Provence was created, then in 1647 a chef d'escadre for Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

, in 1663 one for Poitou

Poitou

Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....

-Saintonge

Saintonge

Saintonge is a small region on the Atlantic coast of France within the département Charente-Maritime, west and south of Charente in the administrative region of Poitou-Charentes....

, in 1673, one for Picardy

Picardy

This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...

 and one for Languedoc

Languedoc

Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...

, in 1689 one for Aunis

Aunis

Aunis is a historical province of France, situated in the north-west of the department of Charente-Maritime. Its historic capital is La Rochelle, which took over from Castrum Allionis the historic capital which gives its name to the province....

, in 1701 one for America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and in 1707 one for Roussillon

Roussillon

Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

. After 1715, there were more chefs d'escadre than there were coastal provinces, and so they started taking the title "chefs d'escadre des armées navales" (squadron-chiefs of the naval armies). From 1772, there were 25 of them.

The chefs d'escadres were chosen from among the capitaines de vaisseau; as the flag of their command they flew a "cornette" at the top of their flagship's main-mast (a flag named after its resemblance in shape to a cornette

Cornette

A cornette is a piece of female headwear that was especially popular in the 15th to 17th century. It is essentially a type of wimple consisting of a large starched piece of white cloth that is folded upwards in such a way as to create the resemblance of horns on the wearer's head.Cornettes folded...

, making it roughly the same shape as a British commodore's

Commodore (Royal Navy)

Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...

 'broad pennant

Broad pennant

A broad pennant is a swallow-tailed tapering flag flown from the masthead of a ship to indicate the presence of a commodore on board. It is so called because its dimensions are roughly 2:3....

').