Émile Paul Amable Guépratte

Who was Émile Paul Amable Guépratte?

Émile Paul Aimable Guépratte was a French admiral.

Guépratte was born in Granville to a family of naval officers. He studied at the Lycée impérial in Brest from 1868, and joined the École Navale on 1 October 1871.

He was made an officer on 5 October 1874, and promoted to Enseigne de vaisseau on 1 December 1877. He served in Tunisia aboard the Marengo. He studied torpedo operations and served on the Amiral Duperré as a torpedo expert before receiving his first command in 1889.

In 1891, he was second officer of the Forfait. He went on to command the gunboat Caronade in Indochina, the anti-submarine defences of Brest, a destroyer and the cruiser Foudre, rising in rank to capitaine de vaisseau.

In 1905, Guépratte took command of the Jeanne d'Arc. In 1909, he commanded the Edgar Quinet, ferrying President Armand Fallières.

Guépratte was promoted to contre-amiral on 2 September 1912. At the outbreak of the First World War, he led a squadron of old battleships in the Mediterranean. He was sent to the Dardanelles to back the British Mediterranean Fleet of Admiral Sackville Carden.

On the 3 November 1914, the Suffren, Vérité, Indomitable and Indefatigable started shelling the forts defending the strait, initiating the Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign.