page_title: Sébastien Lespès
section_title: Command of Far East naval division
hierarchical_section_title: Sébastien Lespès / Command of Far East naval division
context_page_description: Sébastien-Nicolas-Joachim Lespès was a French admiral who played an important role in naval operations during the Sino-French War, as second-in-command of Admiral Amédée Courbet's Far East Squadron.
context_section_description: On 7 March 1884 Lespès arrived in Hong Kong aboard his flagship La Galissonnière to replace Admiral Charles Meyer in command of France's Far East naval division.  After his arrival the naval division consisted of the ironclads La Galissonnière and Triomphante, the cruisers d'Estaing, Duguay-Trouin and Volta, and the gunboat Lutin.
  The Tonkin Coasts and Far East naval divisions were both placed under Admiral Courbet's command in July 1884, as war with China loomed, and the two divisions were formally united into a Far East Squadron in August 1884.
caption: The French ironclad La Galissonnière (4,585 tons), flagship of the Far East naval division
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