Louis XV's navy, 1748-1762 : a study of organization and administration / James Pritchard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pritchard, James S., 1939-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

France. Marine--Organization--History--18th century.

France.

France. Marine--Management--History--18th century.

Naval art and science--France.

Naval art and science.

Physical Description:

xiv, 285 p. ; 24 cm.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Kingston : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1987.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Pritchard's chief concern is to explain why Bourbon France, the richest and most poewerful state in Europe in the middle of the eighteenth century, failed to exercise its power at sea. Through a close examination of naval organization -- the secretaries of state for the navy, central bureaus, officers of the sword and pen, seamen, arsenals, workers, probems of shipbuilding, ordnance production and material acquisition, and finances -- he shows the navy as both an institution embedded in society and an instrument of government. The tensions arising from the contradiction between an institution composed of individuals who sought to advance their own and group interests and an instrument that existed to fulfil government ends were aggravated by an administation of men rather than norms. Pritchard traces many of the shortcomings of naval administratrion to the intensely personal bonds and idiosyncratic behaviour of the individuals who ran it. Many of Pritchards's conclusions run counter to the generallly accepted accounts of problems in the French navy during this period and to the usual view of Choiseul as the saviour of French maritime power. The first complete study of this period of French naval administration, Pritchard's work parallels Baugh's on the British navy.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Tables

Figures

Preface

Louis XV and His Naval Secretaries of State

The Central Bureaux

Officers of the Pen

Officers of the Sword

The Manning Problem

The Arsenals

Arsenal Workers

Ships and the Fleet

The Ordnance Problem

Naval Stores

Naval Finances

Conclusion

Note on Naval Financial Data

Notes

Manuscript Sources

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliography and index.

ISBN:

1-282-85082-2

9786612850820

0-7735-6119-6

OCLC:

732600614