In the

ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

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 ...

, an officier d'épée (literally,

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

officer) was a member of the "corps des officiers d'épée", one of the naval officer corps. This corps was divided between "officiers de vaisseau" (serving at sea) et "officiers de port" (serving in a port as pilot or in fleet maintenance). The other main corps was the administrative

officier de plume In the ancien Régime French Navy, officiers de plume (literally pen officers) were officers working in the administration of ports and colonies, as opposed to officiers d'épée, who were officers at sea. These were the two principal corps of th ...

See also