page_title: French assistance to Nguyễn Ánh
section_title: Navy
hierarchical_section_title: French assistance to Nguyễn Ánh / Military assistance (1789-1802) / Navy
caption_attribution_description: English: Map_of_Saigon_1795_Jean-Marie_Dayot
context_page_description: French assistance to Nguyễn Phúc Ánh, the future Emperor of Vietnam and the founder of the Nguyễn Dynasty, covered a period from 1777 to 1820. From 1777, Mgr Pigneau de Behaine, of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, had taken to protecting the young Vietnamese prince who was fleeing from the offensive of the Tây Sơn. Pigneau de Behaine went to France to obtain military aid, and secured a France-Vietnam alliance that was signed through the 1787 Treaty of Versailles between the king of France, Louis XVI, and Prince Nguyễn Phúc Ánh. As the French regime was under considerable strain at the eve of the French Revolution, France was unable to follow through with the application of the treaty. However, Mgr Pigneau de Behaine persisted in his efforts and, with the support of French individuals and traders, mounted a force of French soldiers and officers that would contribute to the modernization of the armies of Nguyễn Ánh, making possible his victory and his reconquest of all of Vietnam by 1802. A few French officers would remain in Vietnam after the victory, becoming prominent mandarins. The last of them left in 1824 following the enthronement of Minh Mạng, Gia Long's successor.
context_section_description: French Navy officers such as Jean-Marie Dayot and Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau were used to train the navy. By 1792, a large Navy was built, with two European warships and 15 frigates of composite design.
  In 1792, Dayot forced the harbour of Qui Nhơn, opening the way to the Cochinchinese fleet which then defeated the Tây Sơn fleet.
  In 1793, Dayot led a raid in which 60 Tây Sơn galleys were destroyed.
  In 1799, the Englishman Berry witnessed the departure of the Nguyễn fleet, composed of three sloops of war commanded by French officers, each of them with 300 men, 100 galleys with troops, 40 war junks, 200 smallers ships, and 800 transport boats.
  Jean-Marie Dayot also did considerable hydrographic work, making numerous maps of the Vietnamese coast, which were drawn by his talented brother.
caption: Map of Saigon, with the citadel built by Olivier de Puymanel, by Jean-Marie Dayot (1795)
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