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Léonard Victor Joseph Charner (13 February 1797 – 7 February 1869) was an
Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
of the
French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
.


Early career (1797–1837)

Léonard Victor Joseph Charner was born on 13 February 1797 in
Saint-Brieuc Saint-Brieuc (, Breton: ''Sant-Brieg'' , Gallo: ''Saent-Berioec'') is a city in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. History Saint-Brieuc is named after a Welsh monk Brioc, who Christianised the region in the 6th c ...
, Brittany. He became a cadet at the École de Marine in Toulon in February 1812, was appointed a midshipman in 1815 and served in several ships. He was promoted to ''
enseigne de vaisseau Ensign (; Late Middle English, from Old French (), from Latin (plural)) is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was tra ...
'' (ensign) in 1820 and '' lieutenant de vaisseau'' (ship-of-the-line lieutenant) in 1828. He participated in the
Invasion of Algiers in 1830 The invasion of Algiers in 1830 was a large-scale military operation by which the Kingdom of France, ruled by Charles X, invaded and conquered the Deylik of Algiers. Algiers was annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1529 after the capture of Algie ...
. He recorded his observations in a memoir on the duration of naval manoeuvres. In 1832 Charner received the cross of the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
for the capture of
Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...
.


Captain (1837–48)

Charner became a ''
capitaine de corvette Corvette captain is a rank in many navies which theoretically corresponds to command of a corvette (small warship). The equivalent rank in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth, and United States is lieutenant commander. The Royal Canadian Navy us ...
'' (lieutenant commander) in 1837. As second in command of the ''Belle Poule'' he accompanied
François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville François d'Orléans, Prince de Joinville (14 August 1818 – 16 June 1900) was the third son of Louis Philippe, King of the French, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. An admiral of the French Navy, François was famous for bri ...
to
Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
to bring back the remains of
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
to France in 1840 (the
Retour des cendres The ''retour des cendres'' (literally "return of the ashes", though "ashes" is used here as meaning his mortal remains, as he was not cremated) was the return of the mortal remains of Napoleon I of France from the island of Saint Helena to Fran ...
). He was appointed ''
capitaine de vaisseau Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The rank is equal to the army rank of colonel and air force rank of group captain. Equivalent ranks worldwide includ ...
'' (ship-of-the-line captain) in April 1841, and served in various naval commands during the remainder of the
July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...
. In 1843 Charner was part of the fleet sent to the Pacific Ocean by the French Foreign Minister
François Guizot François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848. A conservative liberal who opposed the a ...
under Admiral
Jean-Baptiste Cécille Jean-Baptiste Thomas Médée Cécille (16 October 1787, Rouen – 9 November 1873) was a French Admiral and politician who played an important role in the French intervention of Vietnam. He also circumnavigated the globe. Military career In ...
with the diplomat
Marie Melchior Joseph Théodore de Lagrené Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in T ...
. The move responded to the successes of the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
in China in 1842, and France hoped to counterbalance these successes by accessing China from the south.


French Second Republic (1848–51)

During the
French Second Republic The French Second Republic (french: Deuxième République Française or ), officially the French Republic (), was the republican government of France that existed between 1848 and 1852. It was established in February 1848, with the February Revo ...
on 13 May 1849 Charner was elected representative of Côtes-du-Nord in the Legislative Assembly. He sat with the right and supported the policy of President
Louis Napoleon Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
. He was a member of the Naval Investigation Commission and was often involved in discussions on technical matters. He was also a member of the Côtes-du-Nord General Council.


Second French Empire (1852–69)

After the coup d'état of 2 December 1851 Charner was appointed Chief of Staff of the Minister of the Navy. He was promoted to rear admiral on 3 February 1852, and made second in command of the Pacific Ocean Squadron in August 1853. During the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
on 17 October 1854 his battleship, the ''
Napoléon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
'', battled for five hours with . It fired 3,000 shots and received 100 balls. On 7 June 1855 he was promoted to '' vice-amiral''. He chaired the Naval Works Committee. In May 1860 Charner took command of the naval fores in the China seas and supported the expeditionary force during the
Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...
. After directing the disembarkation of the troops at Peïo he directed his gunboats to attack the forts that defended the entrance to the river. He was then appointed commander in chief of the land and sea forces in
Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
. As soon as the war ended, Charner left for
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
in January 1861 with his naval squadron and a force of 3,000 troops to support French troops under Captain Joseph Hyacinthe Louis Jules d'Ariès encircled in
Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...
. On February 11, 1861, he relieved the
Siege of Saigon The siege of Saigon, a two-year siege of the city by the Vietnamese after its capture on February 17, 1859 by a Franco-Spanish flotilla under the command of the French admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly, was one of the major events of the Conq ...
, thereby continuing the endeavour of Admiral
Charles Rigault de Genouilly Admiral Pierre-Louis-Charles Rigault de Genouilly (, 12 April 1807 – 4 May 1873) was a French naval officer. He fought with distinction in the Crimean War and the Second Opium War, but is chiefly remembered today for his command of French and ...
, and permitting the establishment of the first French territories in
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. The French Navy Minister Chasseloup-Laubat wrote to Charner: "We wish to draw commerce to Saigon (...) What we want is a sort of suzerainty or sovereignty with free trade accessible to all". After three weeks of combat, ending with the Battle of Kỳ Hòa, Charner managed to relieve the Saigon garrison. These efforts allowed the French to capture three provinces of
Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
. Charner was replaced by Admiral Bonard in November 1861, who managed to obtain the recognition of the French conquests by Emperor
Tự Đức Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, 嗣 德, lit. "inheritance of virtues", 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm , also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam; he ruled ...
in 1862, with the June 1862 Treaty of Saigon.


Later career

Charner returned to France in September 1861, and on 22 January 1862 was made a senator. Until his death he sat with the supporters of the imperial regime. He was promoted to admiral by decree of 15 November 1864. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour on 10 February 1861. Charner died on 7 February 1869 in Paris. Several French Navy ships have been named after him, such as the French cruiser or the ''Bougainville''-class colonial
sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
("''
aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an '' ...
colonial''") ''Amiral Charner'' (1933) which fought at the
Battle of Koh Chang The Battle of Ko Chang took place on 17 January 1941 during the Franco-Thai War in which a flotilla of French warships attacked a smaller force of Thai vessels, including a coastal defence ship. The battle resulted in a tactical victory by the ...
in the 1941
Franco-Thai War The Franco-Thai War (October 1940 – January 28, 1941, th, กรณีพิพาทอินโดจีน, Krṇī phiphāth xindocīn; french: Guerre franco-thaïlandaise) was fought between Thailand and Vichy France over certain areas o ...
.


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Charner, Leonard 1797 births 1869 deaths People from Saint-Brieuc Admirals of France People of the Cochinchina campaign 19th-century French military personnel Governors of Cochinchina