Jean Antoine Le Bègue de Germiny ( Nancy, 1 December 1727 —

Landerneau Landerneau (; br, Landerne, ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. It lies at the mouth of the Elorn River which divides the Breton provinces of Cornouaille and Léon, east of Brest. The name is from ...

, 13 May 1808) 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

Le Bègue was born to Léopold Le Bègue de Germiny (1700-1758), a State council to

Leopold, Duke of Lorraine Leopold the Good (11 September 1679 – 27 March 1729) was Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1690 to his death. Through his son Francis Stephen, he is the direct male ancestor of all rulers of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, including all Emperors of ...

. He later married Marie Josèphe de Parceveaux, daughter of Captain Parceveaux. 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 Ad ...

on 1 April 1748. Le Bègue was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 January 1761. Le Bègue was promoted to Captain on 4 April 1777. In 1779, he proposed plans to raid British factories on the coast of Senegal. He was given command of 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 ...

''Magnanime'', which he captained during the

Battle of the Chesapeake The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 17 ...

on 5 September 1781. He took part in the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

on 12 April 1782, where he was wounded. Le Bègue was promoted to Brigadier in 1782, and to

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. Le Bègue was a member of the

Académie de Marine The Royal Naval Academy of France (french: Académie royale de marine) was founded at Brest by a ruling of 31 July 1752 by Antoine Louis de Rouillé, comte de Jouy, Secretary of State for the Navy. This institutionalised an earlier initiative b ...

, and a Knight in the

Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (french: Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis) is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a rewar ...

Sources and references

Notes Citations Bibliography * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Bègue de Germiny, Jean Antoine 1727 births 1808 deaths French Navy officers French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War