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Augustin Manuel Hubert Gaston Boué de Lapeyrère (18 January 1852 – 17 February 1924) was a Frenchadmiral duringWorld War I. He was a strong proponent of naval reform, and is comparable to AdmiralJackie Fisher of the BritishRoyal Navy.
Boué de Lapeyrère was born inCastéra-Lectourois,Gers into a family of sailors: his uncle wasvice-admiral Augustin Dupouy, who becomes his mentor following the death of his father. He entered theÉcole Navale in 1869. He took part in theTonkin campaign during theSino-French war and showed himself to be a leader of men and tactician, especially at theBattle of Fuzhou. Maderear-admiral in 1902, he became major general in Rochefort, where he had as aide-de-campPierre Loti (1902-1904), then commander-in-chief of the Atlantic naval division from 1904 to 1906. He was promoted vice-admiral in 1908 and became maritime prefect forBrest (préfet maritime).
Boué de Lapeyrère served asMinister of Marine, a political position, from 24 July 1909 until 27 February 1911 in the governments ofAristide Briand. While in this position he championed the production of large capital ships, deferring the production ofsubmarines andanti-submarine warships in favor of larger vessels. He reorganized the service and constructed many ships, in particular theCourbet-classdreadnoughts. He also founded the naval air service.
Upon retiring from the office of Minister of Marine, Boué de Lapeyrère was appointed Commander-in-Chief of France'sMediterranean forces in anticipation of sea battles in the Mediterranean between the allies and the navies of Italy andAustria-Hungary and was made Commander in chief of the allied Mediterranean navies. However, these large battles did not materialize, and fighting in the Mediterranean remained limited to raids by submarines and light craft of the Austro-Hungarian navy. (Italy remained neutral until it joined the Allies in 1915, and hence posed no threat to France.) Boué de Lapeyrère thus found his main duty as commander-in-chief to be policing the sea lanes to protect allied shipping. He was criticised at the start of the war in August 1914 for his part in the escape of the German shipsGoeben and Breslau from the Mediterranean to form a Turkish navy in theBlack Sea. He then attacked isolated Austro-Hungarian naval units at theBattle of Antivari in an attempt to entire the Austro-Hungarians into a fleet action. Despite Lapeyrere's squadron destroying Austro-Hungarian cruiserSMS Zenta, the Austro-Hungarian navy did not sortie and no general fleet action occurred.
Despite his notable successes (such as bombardingCattaro and occupying the Dalmatian Islands[1]), the sinking of the armoured cruiserLéon Gambetta, torpedoed by Austro-Hungarian submarineU-5, elicited his resignation on 10 October 1915 without any public explanation. He was replaced by AdmiralDartige du Fournet. Placed in the reserve in 1916, he retired toLectoure. He was granted the Grand Cross of theLégion d'honneur in April 1921. Admiral Boué de Lapeyrère lived until 1924, when he died at the age of 72, inPau. His body was transferred toLes Invalides inParis,France in 1931, he is buried in the 8th arcade of the crypt: Caveau des Gouverneurs, located under the Eglise de Saint-Louis des Invalides.
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