page_title: Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville
section_title: Service in France during the Revolution
hierarchical_section_title: Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville / Career / Service in France during the Revolution
caption_attribution_description: commandé par Louis-Philippe pour le musée historique de Versailles en 1835
context_page_description: Louis-René Madelaine Le Vassor, comte de La Touche-Tréville was a French Vice-admiral. He fought in the American War of Independence and became a prominent figure of the French Revolutionary Wars and of the Napoleonic wars.
  Born into a noble family of naval officers, Latouche enlisted at the age of 13. He rose to become a competent frigate captain, battling several British ships during the American War of Independence. His two-frigate squadron once manoeuvred a 74-gun ship of the line to the point of sinking, and he was entrusted with important personalities of the time as passengers, notably Louis XVI and the Marquis de Lafayette.
  During the Revolution, Latouche, a Freemason and aide to Phillipe Égalité, took progressive positions as a deputy in the Estates General and later in the National Constituent Assembly. His nobility nevertheless made him a target during the Reign of Terror, and he was imprisoned and only freed from prison by the Thermidorian Reaction.
  Returned to the Navy after a long period of unemployment, Latouche took command of the Flottille de Boulogne, where he repelled the Raids on Boulogne organised by Nelson.
context_section_description: Upon Latouche's return in France, he was appointed to direct Rochefort harbour. He was also tasked with drawing a map of Oléron, which was published in the first volume of Hydrographie française. In 1784 he succeeded Bruni d'Entrecasteaux as vice-director of the Harbours and Arsenals, holding the position until 1787, when he became Chancellor to the Duke of Orléans. Meanwhile, he had also served as an inspector for the gunnery school of the Naval Academy, and co-authored the Naval Code for 1786. In July 1786, he sailed a corvette from Honfleur to Le Havre, ferrying king Louis XVI.
  His uncle, Charles-Auguste Levassor de La Touche-Tréville, died in 1788 and bequeathed him his name; henceforth, Latouche added "Tréville" to his name, becoming the "comte de Latouche-Tréville".
  At the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, Latouche-Tréville was elected deputy of the Nobility for the bailiwick of Montargis; he went on to sit at the National Constituent Assembly and held this position until it adjourned on 10 October 1791. Latouche took a liberal posture and was among the first nobles to join forces with the Third Estate. In September 1791, after king Louis XVI approved the new constitution, the National Constituent Assembly disbanded, and Latouche-Tréville resumed his naval activities.
  Latouche had held the rank of Rear-Admiral since 20 December 1790 reform of the navy. In this capacity, in 1792 he took command of a four-ship squadron in Brest. He sailed from Brest to Toulon, on his flagship the Languedoc, to attach his division to the Mediterranean squadron under Rear-admiral Truguet. He took part in raids against Oneglia, Cagliari and Nice during the Army of Italy, and joined in the attack on Sardinia in October 1792 (which turned out to be a failure when the expeditionary corps was repulsed). Latouche-Tréville and Truguet then returned to Toulon.
  Latouche-Tréville was promoted to Rear-Admiral on 1 January 1793. He was then sent on a mission to Napoli, after that kingdom's ambassador to Constantinople had precipitated a diplomatic conflict by insulting his French counterpart. Latouche threatened to bombard the city, and obtained apologies from Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. Latouche then departed, but had to double back to Napoli to repair due to gale-force winds, eventually making his rendezvous with Truguet on 8 February 1793. On 14 February, they landed 6,000 volunteers at Cagliari, who had to reembark under fire and in a gale two days later. The fleet then returned to Toulon once more.
  In March 1793, amid the War of the First Coalition, Latouche took command of the "Naval Army of the Ocean" (the Brest fleet), but as soon as he took up his position, revolutionary subordinates denounced him as an aristocrat. On 15 September, at the height of the Reign of Terror, he was arrested as a "suspect" on orders of the Committee of Public Safety, and cashiered on 3 October. He spent one year in La Force Prison, and was freed only on 20 September 1794, after the Thermidorian Reaction.
  Freed, Latouche returned to Montargis, where he was appointed chief of the Legion of the National Guard for the district. A Freemason, he rose to Vénérable in the Lodge Les Disciples d’Heredom et de la Madeleine Réunis, of Montargis. Latouche was rehabilitated under the Directoire and had his rank reinstated in December 1795, but nonetheless was left for five years without a command in the Navy. From 1797 to 1798, he managed equipment for the Navy with a ship-owner friend, and by 1799 he had grown so desperate that he advertised in Le Moniteur Universel for privateer captainships. It was not until 1799 that he returned to active duty.
caption: Portrait of Latouche-Tréville as a Rear-Admiral, in 1792. Louis-Philippe commissioned the painting for the History Museum of Versailles in 1835;Georges Rouget painted it in 1840.
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