Jean-Baptiste Barthélémy Thomas, comte d’Orves (1727 — ''Orient'', off

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

,Present-day

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

9 February 1782Cunat, p.103 ) was a French Navy officer, who rose to have

flag officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countr ...

rank.

Biography

Thomas d'Estienne d'Orves was born to the

Estienne Family The house of Estienne is a French noble family from Provence. Its most illustrious member is Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves, a French Navy officer, reputed "first martyr of Free France" and one of the major heroes of the French Resistance. Hi ...

, a noble house of Provence. Estienne d'Orves took part in the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778, captaining the 74-gun ''Actif''. In 1778, Estienne d'Orves was in command of the 80-gun ''Orient'', with the rank of captain. On 28 December, during the

Anglo-French War The Anglo-French Wars were a series of conflicts between England (and after 1707, Britain) and France, including: Middle Ages High Middle Ages * Anglo-French War (1109–1113) – first conflict between the Capetian Dynasty and the House of Norma ...

, he departed Brest to reinforce the French colony of Isle de France.The present-day

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

Cunat, p.73 When François-Jean-Baptiste l'Ollivier de Tronjoli, commander of the French forces in the Indian Ocean, was recalled to France, he transferred command to Estienne d'Orves.Cunat, p.83 Estienne d'Orves led his squadron off the

Coromandel Coast The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an ...

, with little effect.Cunat, p.85Cunat, p.94 In April 1781, his health deteriorating, Estienne d'Orves gave command of the division to Tromelin, and that of ''Orient'' to First Officer Bolle.Cunat, p.87 Suffren arrived at Isle de France with reinforcements on 25 October 1781, and Estienne d'Orves decided to mount a raid against British interests in India.Cunat, p.94 On 7 December 1781, Estienne d'Orves departed Isle de France with 11 ships, 3 frigates and 3 corvettes, intending to attack

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

. However, he changed his mind and decided to attack Madras instead.Cunat, p.98 However, in the following days, his failing health deteriorated to the point where he was not fit for duty, and he delegated command to Suffren.Cunat, p.100 He died on 9 February 1782, a few days before the

Battle of Sadras The Battle of Sadras was the first of five largely indecisive naval battles fought between a British fleet (under Admiral Sir Edward Hughes) and a French fleet (under Admiral Pierre Suffren) off the east coast of India during the Anglo-French ...

Assessment

Charles Cunat Charles-Marie Cunat (Saint-Malo, 20 May 1789Levot, p.108 – Saint-Malo, 21 February 1862.Levot, p.109) was a French naval officer, privateer and naval historian. Career Cunat started sailing at the age of 16 on the privateer ''Napoléon'', on w ...

compares d'Orves to Tronjoli in that they both failed to seize the initiative against the British, and contrasts them to Suffren's skill. Admiral

Rémi Monaque Real-Admiral Rémi Léon Louis Marie Joseph Monaque (b. 24 August 1936) is a French Navy officer and naval historian. Biography Monaque joined the École navale in 1955, and was promoted to Ensign 2nd class on 1 October 1956, and to Ensign 1st ...

called d'Orves a "rather mediocre admiral".Monaque, 2017, p. 88

Sources and references

Notes References Bibliography * * , CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Estienne d'Orves, Thomas 1729 births 1788 deaths People from Aix-en-Provence French Navy admirals Counts of France French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War