French Imperial Navy

The French Imperial Navy (French: Marine Impériale) was the navy of the First French Empire which existed between 1804 and 1815. It was formed in May 1804 from the navy of the French First Republic, and spent its existence fighting against the Royal Navy in concert with allied navies as part of the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon intended for the Imperial Navy to play a major role in his planned invasion of the United Kingdom, though this proved infeasible after the British navy dealt a crushing defeat to a Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar.

Realising that the French navy was too weak to directly confront its British counterpart, Napoleon instead embarked on an extensive naval expansion programme to create a fleet in being that would force the Royal Navy to continually to guard against it. This was intended to work in concert with his Continental System, which cut off Britain's trade with Europe, along with Napoleon's directives that small French squadrons slip past Royal Navy blockades and attack British merchant shipping and colonies around the globe.

However, these commerce raids were largely unsuccessful, thanks in part to the British occupation of all French colonies by 1811, and the French navy continued to suffer defeats at the hands of the Royal Navy. In April 1814, Napoleon abdicated from his throne, and the Imperial Navy was disbanded, with several French warships being handed over to the Sixth Coalition as war reparations. The French navy briefly became the Imperial Navy when Napoleon again seized control during the Hundred Days, but saw no significant action before being disbanded for good in July 1815.