WOne of France's Secretaries of State under the ancien régime was entrusted with control of the French Navy (Secretary of State of the Navy. In 1791, this title was changed to Minister of the Navy. Before January 1893, this position also had responsibility for France's colonies, and was usually known as Minister of the Navy and Colonies. In 1947 the naval ministry was absorbed into the Ministry of Defence and reports to the Prime Minister of France and the President of the French Republic at the Elysee Palace.
WThe Ministry of the Navy was a section of the French government - apart from the Ministry of War - that was in charge of the French navy and colonies.
WArmand Gustave Besnard was a French admiral and Ministre de la Marine.
WHenri Paul Arsène Bléhaut was French politician and counter admiral. He was Secretary of State for the Navy and the Colonies from 26 March 1943 to 10 September 1944 in Vichy France.
WJoseph Grégoire Casy was a French naval officer and politician. He became a vice-admiral and a member of the Admiralty board, then entered a career in politics. He was elected a deputy of the Constituent Assembly in 1848, served briefly as Minister of the Navy, and became a senator in the Second French Empire in 1852.
WJean Charles Joseph Chaumet was a French politician and republican militant. He is notable as one of the founders of radicalism.
WÉmile Chautemps was a French politician.
WLouis Raymond marquis de Montaignac de Chauvance was a French naval officer and politician. He served as naval minister from 1874 to 1876.
WGeorges Charles Cloué was a French naval officer, colonial administrator and politician. He rose to the rank of vice admiral and took part in the French intervention in Mexico. He then became governor of Martinique from 30 August 1871 to 1874. He was Minister for the Navy and the Colonies from 23 September 1880 to 13 November 1881 in Jules Ferry's first ministry.
WCharles de Dompierre d'Hornoy was a French admiral, politician and naval minister.
WJacques-Louis Dumesnil was a French politician.
WCharles Emile Etienne Dumont was a left-leaning French politician who was Minister of Public Works in 1911 and Minister of Finance in 1913. The "Dumont Resolution" passed by the Chamber of Deputies in 1917 called for security after World War I (1914–18) to be based on the armed forces of France and her allies, and also for the establishment of a society of nations. Dumont was again Minister of Finance in 1930, and was Minister of the Navy in 1931–32. He initiated construction of the battleship Dunkerque as part of a naval expansion program. Dumont came from a family of peasant winemakers from the Jura, and did much to promote development of that region as president of the Jura Departmental Council from 1921 to 1939.
WLéon Martin Fourichon was a French naval officer, colonial administrator and politician.
WJules François Émile Krantz was a French naval officer and politician. In Vietnamese royal records, he was referred as Ca Răng (哥𪘵).
WClaude II de l’Aubespine, seigneur de Hauterive et de la Forêt-Thaumieres, baron of Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. was a French diplomat, and Secretary of State.
WLouis Pierre Alexis Pothuau was a French naval officer and politician. He served as deputy for Paris, then as a sénateur inamovible. He was twice Minister for the Navy and the Colonies and ended his career as France's ambassador to the United Kingdom.
WCount Jean Claude Redon de Beaupréau was a French politician.
WHenri, Adrien, Barthélemy, Louis Rieunier was a French admiral and politician, most notable for his involvement in Vietnam.
WAlbert Edmond Louis Roussin, baron was a French vice-admiral and politician. He was first commissioned captain in 1859. He was Naval Minister from 23 November to 12 December 1877. He was the son of Albin Roussin.