Pierre André de Suffren

Pierre-André de Suffren was the most aggressive French admiral of the eighteenth century and the only one the Royal Navy genuinely feared. Born in Provence in 1729 into an old noble family, he entered the navy at fourteen and served through three wars, and was twice a British prisoner. He also served with the Knights of Malta, fighting Barbary corsairs, and was known as the Bailli de Suffren. He was present at the disaster of Quiberon Bay in 1759, and drew from the defeats of his youth a conviction that French doctrine was the problem: French squadrons fought to preserve their ships and achieve a strategic object, avoiding decisive action, while the British sought to destroy the enemy fleet. In 1781 he was sent to the Indian Ocean. On the way he attacked a British squadron at Porto Praya in the neutral Cape Verde islands, without hesitation over the neutrality, and disrupted an expedition against the Cape of Good Hope. Over 1782 and 1783 he fought five actions against Sir Edward Hughes off the Coromandel coast — Sadras, Providien, Negapatam, Trincomalee and Cuddalore. None was a clear victory, and together they were a remarkable campaign: operating without a friendly base, he refitted at Sumatra and in allied ports, maintained his squadron for two years, took Trincomalee, and supported Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan against the British in Mysore. His captains disobeyed him repeatedly, and he sent several home. He preserved French India from conquest until the peace of 1783. He was made a vice-admiral on his return and died in 1788, possibly in a duel concealed as illness.

• Lived: 1729 CE – 1788 CE
• Nationality: French
• Roles: admiral