Gaspard de Ligondès was a French Navy officer. He served in the
War of American Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
Biography
Retz was born to a family from Auvergne. He joined the Navy as a
Garde-Marine In France, under the Ancien Régime, the Gardes de la Marine (Guards of the Navy), or Gardes-Marine were young gentlemen undergoing training to be naval officers. The training program was established by Cardinal Richelieu in 1670 and lasted until A ...
in 1741. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1756, to Commander in 1767, to Captain in 1772.
In 1779, Retz captained the 64-gun
''Vengeur'', part of the division under
De Grasse sent to
D'Estaing as reinforcement. Retz was wounded at the
Battle of Grenada
The Battle of Grenada took place on 6 July 1779 during the American Revolutionary War in the West Indies between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy, just off the coast of Grenada. The British fleet of Admiral John Byron (the grandfath ...
on 6 July 1779, and took part in the
Siege of Savannah
The siege of Savannah or the Second Battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutena ...
in September and October 1779. He also fought in the
Battle of Martinique on 17 April 1780, where ''Vengeur'', along with
''Destin'' and
''Saint Michel'', directly engaged the much stronger
''Sandwich'', under
Rodney,
HMS ''Cornwall'' and
HMS ''Suffolk''.
In 1781, Retz captained the
74-gun
The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...
''Zodiaque'' in Brest. In 1782, he transferred to
''Robuste''. The same year, he was promoted to
Brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...
.
Retz retired from the Navy with the rank of
Chef d'Escadre
''Chef d'escadre'' (; literally " squadron commander") was a rank in the French Navy during the Ancien Régime and until the French Revolution. The rank was changed to '' contre-amiral'' by a law passed on 15 May 1791.
History
The first chefs ...
in 1786.
Sources and references
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ligondès, Gaspard
French Navy officers
French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War