Jeune École

The Jeune École ("Young School") was a strategic naval concept developed during the 19th century. It advocated the use of small, powerfully equipped units to combat a larger battleship fleet, and commerce raiders capable of ending the trade of the rival nation. The idea was developed among French naval theorists: the French government had the second largest navy of the time, and the theorists desired to counteract the strength of the British Royal Navy which was the largest.

Contents 1 Small units against battleships 2 Commerce raiders 3 Influences 4 References 4.1 Notes 5 External links

Small units against battleships

One of the first proponents of the Jeune École was the artillery general Henri-Joseph Paixhans, who invented explosive shell guns for warships during the 1820s. He advocated the use of these powerful guns on numerous small steam warships that could destroy much larger battleships.

Later, the French Navy developed the concept more elaborately as it experimented with torpedoes and torpedo boats. The French Navy became one of the strongest proponents of this combat system by the end of the 19th century.^[1] The naval successes of the French Navy against China during the Sino-French War of 1883–85 also tended to validate the potential of torpedo boats against conventional navies.^[2]

France was also very active in the development of a submarine fleet, again trying to rely on technical development to compensate for British numerical superiority of battleships. By the beginning of the 20th century, France was "undoubtedly the first navy to have an effective submarine force".^[3]

Counter measures against the Jeune École system consisted largely of destroyers, designed to deter and destroy small torpedo units (in French, "destroyer" is contre-torpilleur), the first of which was the Destructor.

Commerce raiders

The other constitutive part of the Jeune École concept consisted of planning to raid the commercial ships of the enemy so as to curtail its trade and economy, again a tactic designed especially against Great Britain.

Raiding ships, such as the Dupuy de Lôme were designed for this role. Dupuy de Lôme, an armored cruiser, laid down during 1888, was capable of 23 kts, and designed to raid enemy commerce ships during extended forays afloat.

Influences

The Jeune École was particularly influential on the development of smaller navies during the 19th century, particularly as they tried to compensate for weaknesses in battleships.

References

• Howe, Christopher (1996). The origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy, Development and technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War. The University of Chicago Press ISBN 0-226-35485-7.
• Roksund, Arne. The Jeune École: The Strategy of the Weak. Leiden: Brill, 2007. ISBN 978-90-04-15273-1.
• Gardiner, Robert, and Lambert, Andrew (Eds.). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The steam warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship, ISBN 0-7858-1413-2.
• Theodore Ropp: The Development of a Modern Navy: French Naval Policy 1871–1904. Ed.: Stephen S. Roberts, Annapolis, Md., Naval Institute Press, 1987 (Harvard University dissertation from 1937).
• (de/fr) Volkmar Bueb: Die "Junge Schule" der französischen Marine. Strategie und Politik 1875–1900, Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein, 1971. In: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Editor): Wehrwissenschaftliche Forschungen, Department Militärgeschichtliche Studien, Volume 12. ISBN 3-7646-1552-4. (In German with quotations in French. Title translated to the English language: The "Jeune École" in the French marine. Strategy and policy between 1875 and 1900. Book out of print. Only in scientific libraries.

Notes

1. ^ Howe, p. 281, "the revolutionary new technologies embodied in torpedoes, torpedo boats and mines, of which the French at the time were probably the world's best exponents" .
2. ^ Bueb, p. 16 .
3. ^ Gardiner; Lambert .

External links

• Net-Centric before its time: The Jeune École and Its Lessons for Today Erik J. Dahl US Naval War College Review, Autumn 2005, Vol. 58, No. 4

• (fr) François-Emmanuel Brézet: Enseignements de l'histoire et progrès technique: L'example de l'élaboration de la doctrine de la Jeune École française (title translated to english: Lessons from history and technical progress: Example how the ideas of the french Jeune École were elaborated)