From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tonkin Flotilla
Tonkin Flotilla
The Tonkin Flotilla (flotille de Tonkin), a force of despatch the French commandant supérieur in Tonkin. Operational
vessels and gunboats used for policing the rivers and wa- command was given to capitaine de vaisseau Morel-
terways of the Tonkin Delta, was created in the summer Beaulieu.[3]
of 1883, during the period of undeclared hostilities that
preceded the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885).
Composition
The Tonkin Flotilla consisted initially of the light frigates
Background (avisos à roues) Pluvier and Alouette, the seagoing gunboats
In March 1882, on the eve of Commandant Henri Rivière’s Fanfare, Léopard and Surprise, the large river gunboats
seizure of the citadel of Hanoi, France had two naval di- (avisos de flotille à roues) Éclair and Trombe, and the smaller
visions in the Far East. The seas to the east of the Hainan river gunboats (chaloupes-cannonières démontables) Cara-
Strait were the responsibility of Rear Admiral Charles bine, Hache, Massue and Yatagan. Alouette was normally
Meyer’s Far East naval division (division navale de stationed in Cochinchina, and does not seem to have seen
l’Extrême-Orient). France’s interests in Indochina were service in Tonkin.[4]
protected by Rivière’s Cochinchina naval division (divi- The stationary pontoon Tilsitt at Saigon and the small
sion navale de Cochinchine), responsible for monitoring river gunboats Framée, Javeline and Mousqueton, normally
coastal navigation between Singapore and the Hainan stationed in Cochinchina, were also placed under the or-
Strait and along the rivers of Cochinchina and Cambo- ders of the commander of the Tonkin Flotilla.[5]
dia.[1] In April 1884 the Farcy gunboats Revolver and Mi-
Several vessels under Rivière’s command were nor- trailleuse, both of which had seen service on the Seine
mally stationed in Cochinchina or Cambodia, including during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1), arrived in
the troopship Drac, the light frigate Alouette and the small Tonkin. The two gunboats were transported to Tonkin
gunboats Framée and Javeline. Tilsitt, the flagship of the lashed to the bridge of the troopship Bien Hoa, and re-
Cochinchina naval division, was disarmed and in perma- floating them on their arrival at Haiphong was a techni-
nent dock at Saigon, and served as the division’s store- cal task of considerable complexity.[6]
house and administrative centre. Most of the division’s In October 1883 Admiral Courbet asked the navy min-
vessels, however, were stationed in Tonkin, where they istry to design a new class of shallow-draft gunboats
were enforcing the right of free navigation on the Red which could penetrate the maze of shallow tributary
River conceded to France by the Vietnamese government streams and arroyos of the Delta, so that the Black Flags
in 1874. Rivière’s command in Tonkin consisted of the and pirates could be hunted down far more effectively.
light frigates Hamelin, Parseval and Antilope (the latter due The ministry accepted his recommendations, and laid
to be replaced shortly by Pluvier), the heavy gunboats down two new classes of gunboats. Eight gunboats of the
Lynx and Vipère, the seagoing gunboats Fanfare, Léopard Henri Rivière class were designed and built specifically for
and Surprise, and the smaller river gunboats Carabine, service in Tonkin, while more than a dozen gunboats of
Éclair, Hache, Massue, Trombe and Yatagan. The heavy gun- the Arquebuse class were produced for use in both Tonkin
boats had crews of 77 men and mounted four cannon, and Madagascar.
while the smaller gunboats had two cannon each. They The gunboats of the former class were named after
all carried a Hotchkiss canon-revolver in their tops.[2] the French officers who had been killed or mortally
Following Rivière’s defeat and death at the Battle of wounded in action in Tonkin in Francis Garnier and Hen-
Paper Bridge (19 June 1883), the navy ministry created ri Rivière’s campaigns: Francis Garnier, Colonel Carreau,
a new Tonkin Coasts naval division (division navale des Henri Rivière, Berthe de Villers, Jacquin and Moulun. The
côtes du Tonkin) under the command of Admiral Amédée gunboats, built at the Claparède works in Lorient,
Courbet, whose mission was to cut off the flow of reached Haiphong in the autumn of 1884.
weapons and ammunition from China to the Black Flag The Arquebuse class of gunboats was designed for
Army by blockading the Gulf of Tonkin. The larger seago- more general service, in Madagascar as well as Tonkin.
ing vessels already on station in Tonkin were transferred Six vessels in this class (Arquebuse, Alerte, Avalanche, Bour-
to Courbet’s new naval division, while the remainder rasque, Mutine and Rafale) were deployed in Tonkin in the
(mostly gunboats) were organised into the ’Tonkin Flotil- summer of 1884. These 70 horsepower (52 kW) gunboats
la’. The flotilla was initially placed under the command were 30 metres long and 5 metres wide, cruised at 8 knots
of général de brigade Alexandre-Eugène Bouët (1833–87), (15 km/h), and drew less than one-and-a-half metres of
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tonkin Flotilla
water. Although they could carry only 60 men, they were and took part in several actions in the Delta against the
armed with two 90-millimetre cannon and three Black Flag Army and the Chinese Guangxi and Yunnan
Hotchkiss canons-revolvers, so that they packed a power- Armies.
ful punch. Two other gunboats of the Arquebuse class, The gunboats Carabine, Fanfare, Hache, Pluvier, Surprise
Casse-tête and Estoc, joined the Tonkin flotilla in early and Yatagan took part in Henri Rivière’s Nam Dinh expe-
1885. They differed from the earlier models in having two dition in March 1883 and supported the French infantry
masts, each with a Hotchkiss station. attack on the Nam Dinh defences on 27 March with a pre-
In February 1885, on the eve of the Lang Son Cam- liminary bombardment on 26 March.[8]
paign, the Flotilla also included the gunboats Hyène, The gunboat Song Cau (or Song Coi) took part in a sor-
Jaguar, Nagotna and Petit Haiphong. The Flotilla also de- tie by the French garrison of Nam Dinh in July 1883 that
ployed a number of steam launches and tugs that were inflicted a serious defeat on besieging Vietnamese forces
used to tow strings of junks loaded with men, ammuni- under the command of Prince Hoang Ke Viem.[9]
tion or food. Contemporary French sources mention the The gunboats Pluvier, Léopard, Fanfare, Éclair, Mousque-
vessels Haiphong, Pélican, Kowloon, Whampoo, Ruri Maru, ton and Trombe took part in the Battle of Phu Hoai (15 Au-
Cua Cam, Cua Lac, Cua Dai, Phu Ly and Tra Ly. Just as French gust 1883).[10]
transports were often named after French rivers, these The gunboats Pluvier, Léopard, Fanfare, Éclair, Hache
small river craft for use in Tonkin tended to be named af- and Mousqueton took part in the Battle of Palan (1
ter the watercourses of the Tonkin Delta. September 1883).[11]
By 1886 the Flotilla included the gunboats Levrard, The gunboats Pluvier, Trombe, Éclair, Hache, Mousque-
Bossant and Cuvellier, named after three French officers ton and Yatagan took part in the Son Tay Campaign (De-
killed in action in Tonkin during the Sino-French War. [7] cember 1883).
Operations Kep Campaign, October 1884
The Tonkin Flotilla played a decisive strategic role in
General François de Négrier’s Kep Campaign (October
1884), in which the French defeated a major Chinese in-
vasion of the Tonkin Delta. In late September 1884 large
detachments of the Guangxi Army advanced from Lang
Son and probed into the Luc Nam valley. On 2 October
the French gunboats Hache and Massue, on patrol in the
Luc Nam river, were ambushed from the riverbank by a
strong force of Chinese infantry. A third gunboat, Mous-
queton, came to the rescue, and the three French vessels
escaped downriver to the French post at Sept Pagodes.
Although the French suffered heavy casualties in this
ambush (lieutenant de vaisseau Challier of Massue was
killed and 32 sailors and soldiers were wounded), the
Guangxi Army had disclosed its presence premature-
ly.[12] Back in Hanoi, General Louis Brière de l’Isle reacted
swiftly to the Chinese threat. The French used the mo-
bility conferred by their gunboats to move men and sup-
plies between Phu Lang Thuong and the Luc Nam, en-
abling de Négrier to concentrate his forces rapidly and
defeat the two widely-separated wings of the Chinese
Guangxi Army one after the other. Hache, Éclair and Mas-
sue, accompanied by the tugs Phu Ly and Tra Ly and the
barge Cua Dai, landed Donnier’s column at Lam on 6 Oc-
tober, threatening the Chinese army’s left wing at Chu
while de Négrier concentrated against the Chinese forces
at Kep.[13]
Pluvier engages the Vietnamese defences at Nam Dinh with her
masthead-mounted canon-revolver, 26 March 1883 Resupply of Tuyen Quang, Octo-
Besides policing the inland waterways of Tonkin, the ves-
ber–November 1884
sels of the Tonkin Flotilla were also used in close support During October and November 1884 the Farcy gunboats
of the movements of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, Revolver and Mitrailleuse, based at Tuyen Quang, and the
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tonkin Flotilla
cluding the commander, enseigne de vaisseau de Balin-
court) from enemy fire from Yu Oc. In an engagement on
12 November 1884 Trombe suffered casualties of 1 man
dead and 7 wounded. Revolver was eventually withdrawn
from Tuyen Quang, but Mitrailleuse remained on station,
and later distinguished herself in the Siege of Tuyen
Quang (24 November 1884–3 March 1885).
Relief of Tuyen Quang, February–March
1885
The Tonkin Flotilla played an important role in the relief
of Tuyen Quang. In late February 1885 the gunboats Henri
Rivière, Berthe de Villers, Moulun, Éclair and Trombe trans-
ported 2,400 soldiers of Lieutenant-Colonel Laurent Gio-
vanninelli’s 1st Brigade from Hanoi up the Red and Clear
Rivers and put them ashore near the French post of Phu
Doan on the Clear River, fifty kilometres southwest of
Tuyen Quang. Giovanninelli had hoped to have their sup-
port when he attacked an important Chinese blocking
position at Hoa Moc, but the water level in the Clear
River was so low that the gunboats grounded several
kilometres above Phu Doan. Their crews endured a week
of back-breaking labour, hauling the gunboats along an
almost-dry river bed, but despite their utmost efforts the
gunboats were absent from the Battle of Hoa Moc on 2
March. Some of the French crewmen were said to have
wept with rage at their inability to take part in the crucial
Revolver runs the gauntlet of the Chinese defences at Yu Oc, battle for Tuyen Quang. The gunboats finally reached
October 1884
Tuyen Quang on 4 March, the day after the post was re-
lieved.[14]
General Brière de l’Isle was careful to acknowledge
the heroic efforts made by their captains and crews in
an order of the day issued on 5 March. After praising
the courage of the marine infantry and Turcos of the 1st
Brigade, who suffered more than 400 casualties storming
the Chinese defences at Hoa Moc, he praised the sacri-
fices made by the men of the Flotilla:
Vous avez été plus heureux que les états-majors et
les équipages des canonnières Henri Rivière, Berthe
de Villers, Moulun, Éclair et Trombe, qui ont espéré
jusqu’au dernier moment partager vos dangers. Au
prix d’efforts inouïs, ils ont trainé leurs bâtiments
Prefect of Phu-doan, 1884 pendant sept jours consécutifs dans une rivière
sans eau et ont pu atteindre Phu-Doan, Yu-oc et
les abords de Tuyen-Quan. Ils ont ainsi prouvé que
gunboats Bourrasque, Éclair, Mutine and Trombe, operating
des obstacles considérés jusqu’alors comme insur-
out of Hung Hoa, mounted a number of dangerous supply
montables n’existaient pas pour eux.[15]
runs along the Clear River between Hung Hoa and Tuyen
Quang in support of the small French garrison at Tuyen
(You were luckier than the officers and the crews
Quang. The supply runs were successful, but the French
of the gunboats Henri Rivière, Berthe de Villers,
suffered a constant dribble of casualties as their gunboats
Moulun, Éclair and Trombe, who had hoped right
were engaged by the Black Flags. On one occasion Re-
up to the last moment to share your dangers. At
volver had to steam at full speed to break a barrage laid
the cost of unimaginable efforts they dragged their
across the Clear River, and on another occasion her crew
vessels for seven consecutive days up a waterless
sustained casualties of 2 men dead and 3 wounded (in-
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tonkin Flotilla
river and succeeded in reaching Phu Doan, Yu Oc
and the approaches to Tuyen Quang. They thus
demonstrated that obstacles hitherto supposed in-
surmountable did not exist for them.)
See also
• Far East Squadron
Vessels of the Tonkin Flotilla
• Éclair
• Fanfare
Notes
[1] Thomazi, Conquête, 140
[2] Huard, 4–6; Loir, 6; Marolles, 60–61; Thomazi,
Conquête, 140
[3] Thomazi, Conquête, 160
[4] Cahu, 3; Thomazi, Conquête, 160
[5] Cahu, 3
[6] Rollet de l’Isle, 92–4
[7] Lecomte, Vie militaire, page number to be supplied
• Mutine [8] Duboc, 97–112; Huard, 19–26; Marolles, 178–92;
• Pluvier Thomazi, Histoire militaire, 53–4
• Surprise [9] Duboc, 156–7; Huard, 88–92
• Yatagan [10] Duboc, 162–78; Huard, 99–103; Thomazi, Conquête,
163–5; Histoire militaire, 60–2
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tonkin Flotilla
[11] Duboc, 180–91; Huard, 131–5; Thomazi, Histoire • Huard, L., La guerre du Tonkin (Paris, 1887)
militaire, 64–6 • Huguet, L., En colonne: souvenirs d’Extrême-Orient
[12] Lecomte, Lang-Son, 44–53 (Paris, 1888)
[13] Huard, 439–42; Lecomte, Lang-Son, 53–66 and 103 • Lecomte, J., Lang-Son: combats, retraite et négociations
[14] Huguet, 89–93; Lecomte, Lang-Son, 324–9; Vie (Paris, 1895)
militaire, 215–31; Thomazi, Conquête, 247–8; Histoire • Lecomte, J., La vie militaire au Tonkin (Paris, 1893)
militaire, 107–8 • Loir, M., L’escadre de l’amiral Courbet (Paris, 1886)
[15] Huguet, 96 • Marolles, Vice-amiral de, La dernière campagne du
Commandant Henri Rivière (Paris, 1932)
References • Rollet de l’Isle, M., Au Tonkin et dans les mers de Chine
(Paris, 1886)
• Cahu, T., L’amiral Courbet en Extrême-Orient: notes et • Thomazi, A., La conquête de l’Indochine (Paris, 1934)
correspondance (Paris, 1896) • Thomazi, A., Histoire militaire de l’Indochine français
• Duboc, E., Trente cinq mois de campagne en Chine, au (Hanoi, 1931)
Tonkin (Paris, 1899)
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Categories:
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