Chapter 593: The Talent Problem
British press gangs would even venture into America to seize sailors. They claimed these sailors had emigrated from Britain, still had an obligation to serve in the Royal Navy, and would forcibly conscript them into British warships.
Historically, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British Navy's HMS Leopard famously intercepted the USS Chesapeake directly in Boston Harbor, demanding to board and seize men for service.
The Americans immediately sounded general quarters, and after an exchange of fire, the Chesapeake surrendered. The British then took some of the sailors from the ship...
This became the famous "Chesapeake-Leopard Affair" and was a major catalyst for the War of 1812.
As for why France didn't emulate Britain's methods:
One reason was that the French people were not as docile as the British populace; a spirit of protest ran in their veins. If the French Navy dared to press men into service like the British press gangs, they would face civic unrest from the citizens of the port cities.
Furthermore, the number of French sailors was far fewer than in Britain, where the entire nation relied on the sea for its livelihood. Sailors were a relatively scarce resource in France, and the French Navy was unwilling to alienate the sailing community too severely.
Thus, France currently employed an incentive-based system: a sailor registration system.
Any sailor who registered with the government would receive an annual subsidy of 30 francs, but registered sailors were obligated to serve if the navy required them.
Yet, despite all this, the free-spirited and independent French sailors were still reluctant to register.
For instance, the navy's sailor registration list currently held only around 10,000 men. Meanwhile, the wartime shortage of sailors exceeded 40,000 to 50,000.
This forced the French Navy to conscript many individuals with no seafaring experience onto ships, even temporarily borrowing personnel from the army—men who had possibly never even set foot on a boat before.
With such a quality of sailors, even if the French warships were not a step weaker than the British, and even if both nations were given two identical fleets, the French would still be utterly defeated.
The famous Battle of Trafalgar during Napoleon's era was a prime example. The warships of the Franco-Spanish combined fleet were not significantly inferior to Britain's, yet the outcome was still an annihilation by the British. The highly skilled British sailors played a pivotal role in this.
After listening to the Marquis de Castries, Joseph immediately thought of adopting the army's model.
"Perhaps we could establish a naval academy," he said, turning to the Minister of the Navy. "To train a large number of qualified seamen for the navy."
The Marquis de Castries, however, seemed less enthusiastic, replying tactfully, "Your Highness, while that might offer some assistance, it would be difficult to completely resolve the issue."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"We require a great many crewmen. For example, during the Seven Years' War, we conscripted between 40,000 and 50,000 sailors."
"50,000?" Joseph frowned. That number was indeed quite high, but he declared firmly, "Then we shall train 50,000 recruits."
For the sake of naval development, he was willing to invest a substantial amount of funds.
The Marquis de Castries immediately waved a hand. "Your Highness, we can't actually employ that many men."
Joseph leaned back slightly. "Do you need 50,000 sailors or not?"
"Your Highness," the Marquis de Castries hastened to explain, "the navy usually only requires just over 6,000 men. It's only when war breaks out that we need tens of thousands of sailors. This means we don't need to maintain such a large crew complement..."
He continued to explain in detail for quite some time before Joseph finally understood. It turned out that nearly 70% of the navy's warships were docked in port during peacetime—there was simply no other way, as these financial behemoths drained resources incredibly quickly once mobilized.
This was also why naval expenditures were so enormous during wartime.
Moreover, during wartime, the number of combat positions on warships had to increase significantly.
For example, a third-rate battleship normally only carried 40 marines, but in wartime, it required a full complement of 150 men.
These marines were different from modern marines. They served more to supervise the crew and help the captain maintain 'authority'. Of course, during intense battles, they could also fire at enemy ships to join the fray.
At the same time, the number of sailors on warships would also increase during wartime. For instance, gun crews certainly needed to be at full strength, which was not strictly necessary in peacetime. Additional sailors for other positions also had to be carried as replacements for combat casualties.
This led to a dramatic surge in the number of crewmen required by the navy once war broke out.
This was even more pronounced in the British Navy, whose crew size could increase tenfold during wartime!
Furthermore, a sailor's pay was considerably higher than that of an infantryman. For a navy perpetually under financial strain, it was absolutely unwilling to support so many idle mouths in peacetime.
More importantly, the navy preferred these sailors to go to sea with merchant ships during peacetime rather than languishing on land. This way, their seafaring skills could constantly improve.
The operational modes of merchant ships and warships in this era were almost identical, even down to the commands.
Sailors from merchant ships, once brought aboard warships, could immediately engage in combat.
Joseph sat down with the others at the dining table, musing aloud, "So, what we lack isn't professional naval personnel, but rather common sailors."
"Precisely, Your Highness," the Marquis de Castries immediately nodded. "It's not just the navy; our merchant ships have long struggled to find enough sailors. Merchants frequently have to detour to Italy to recruit men before setting out on long voyages."
"Then why are people unwilling to become sailors?"
"Well..." The Minister of the Navy seemed a bit embarrassed, his voice dropping considerably. "When we possessed our North American and Far Eastern colonies, the situation wasn't quite so severe..."
Joseph fell silent as well.
'Indeed. France lost all its overseas colonies during the Seven Years' War. Without massive overseas trade to sustain them, if they all went to sea, wouldn't they just starve?'
Britain, on the other hand, could easily support tens of thousands of sailors with just its Anglo-Indian shipping route.
He sighed deeply. "The naval academy still needs to be built. We should endeavor to use professional soldiers to form the navy's core. This way, we can also implement uniform combat and navigation standards throughout the fleet."
In this era, all positions on warships could be considered highly skilled personnel, especially officers, helmsmen, navigators, gunners, and surgeons. If training relied solely on civilian initiatives, efficiency would inevitably be low.
However, with a military academy specifically instructing in these areas, the pace would be much faster, and the quality of personnel would also improve.
Historically, France didn't realize this problem until nearly half a century later, when it established its first naval academy. Of course, currently, apart from Portugal, which had a semi-military navigation academy, no other European country had a naval academy either.
"Furthermore, we must increase our maritime trade volume as much as possible."
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