- Louis-Émile Bertin
Louis-Émile Bertin (1840-1924) was a French naval engineer, one of the foremost of his time, and a proponent of the "
Jeune École " philosophy of using light, but powerfully armed warships instead of large battleships.Early life
Bertin was born in Nancy,
France in 1840. He entered theParis École Polytechnique in 1858. At exiting the school, he chose the field of Naval Engineering ("Génie maritime"). His role model wasHenri Dupuy de Lôme , who had designed the first iron-clad warship in France. Bertin came to be known for his innovative designs, often at odds with conventional wisdom, and won international recognition as a leading naval architect. In 1871, he also became adoctor of laws , showing great versatility of talents.Life in Japan
In 1885, the Japanese government persuaded the French Génie Maritime to send Bertin as a special foreign advisor to the
Imperial Japanese Navy for a period of four years from 1886-1890. Bertin was tasked with training Japanese engineers and naval architects, designing and constructing modern warships, and naval facilities. For Bertin, then aged 45, it was an extraordinary opportunity to design an entire navy. For the French government, it represented a major coup in their fight againstGreat Britain andGermany for influence over the newly-industrializingEmpire of Japan .While in Japan, Bertin designed and constructed seven major warships and 22 torpedo boats, which formed the nucleus of the budding Japanese Navy. These included the three "Matsushima" class
cruiser s, which featured a single but immensely powerful 12.6 inch Canet maingun , which formed the core of the Japanese fleet during theFirst Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.Bertin also directed the construction of the arsenals of Kure and Sasebo and the
Sasebo Navy Yard .However, Bertin's time in Japan was also plagued by political intrigue. There were strong factions with the Japanese government who favored the British or Germans over the French, or who still begrudged the French for their previous strong support of the
Tokugawa bakufu . Bertin's position was more than once put into jeopardy. That Japan was gambling on the yet-untested Jeune École philosophy in approving Bertin's designs was also of concern.His efforts in building up the Imperial Japanese Navy, made a decisive contribution to the Japanese victory at the Battle of the Yalu,
17 September 1894 , Japanese AdmiralItoh Sukeyuki , (who had been onboard the flagship "Matsushima") wrote to Bertin::"The ships fulfilled all our hopes. They were the formidable elements of our fleet; because of their powerful armament and intelligent design, we were able to win a brilliant victory against the Chinese armoured ships". (Yuko Ito ["La Marine moderne d'Émile Bertin", p167-170] )
Émile Bertin received the
Order of the Rising Sun , second class, from theMeiji Emperor at the end of 1890. During the ceremony, the Navy MinisterSaigo Tsugumichi (1843-1902) declared::"Not only did Bertin establish the plans for the construction of coastal ships and first-class cruisers, he also made suggestions for the organization of the fleet, the defense of our coasts, the construction of high-caliber guns, the usage of materials such as steel or coal.; during the four years he has been in Japan, he never stopped working for the technical improvement of the Navy, and the results of his efforts are remarquable" (Tokyo, January 23, 1890 ["France-Japon Eco, No97, p82] )Warships designed or built while in Japan
* 3
cruiser s: the 4,700 tons "Matsushima" and "Itsukushima", made in France, and the "Hashidate", built by Japan inYokosuka .
* 3 coastal warships of 4,278 tons.
* 2 small cruisers: the "Chiyoda", a small cruiser of 2,439 built inGreat Britain , and the "Yaeyama", 1800 tons, built in Yokosuka, Japan.
* 1light cruiser : the "Chishima", built in France.
* 1frigate , the 1600 tons "Takao", built in Yokosuka.
* 16torpedo boats of 54 tons each, built in France by theCompanie du Creusot in 1888, and assembled in Japan.ubsequent life
Upon his return to France, Bertin was promoted to Director of the School of Naval Engineering (Ecole du Génie Maritime). In 1895 he became the Director of Naval Construction (Directeur des Construction Navales) with the rank of General Engineer ("ingénieur général"). During his tenure as Director, the french Navy became the second navy in the world in terms of
tonnage . Back in France, ironically he found himself at odds with the supporters of AdmiralHyacinthe Aube 's Jeune École, and he more than once criticized the designs of his fellow constructors; his criticisms were later justified by the catastrophic sinking of thebattleship "Bouvet" in 1915. He was inducted in the famousInstitut de France in 1903Legacy
Bertin's concept of lightly armored, heavily-gunned cruisers was soon overtaken by the
pre-dreadnought s; by the time of theRusso-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the concepts of the Jeune École had largely been discredited. The Japanese were not happy with the overall performance of the Matsushima-class vessels, and after the Unebi sank in route from France to Japan in December 1886, Bertin's later designs were ordered from British, rather than French shipyards.Bertin's real legacy for Japan was his creation of a series of modern shipyards, most notably Kure and Sasebo (
Yokosuka , Japan's first modern arsenal, was built earlier in 1865 by the French engineerLéonce Verny ). DuringWorld War I , those very yards built twelve destroyers for France’s embattled fleet.After his death, a
light cruiser of theFrench Navy , the "Émile Bertin", was named in his honour. Émile Bertin also invented the twin-oscillographer (to study roll and pitch). He also wrote several books:
* "Données Expérimentales sur les vagues et le roulis" (1874)
* "La Marine à Vapeur de Guerre et de Commerce" (1875)
* "Les Grandes Guerres Civiles du Japon" (1894)
* "Chaudières Marines, Cours de Machine à Vapeur" (1896)
* "État actuel de la marine de guerre"
* "Évolution de la puissance défensive des navires de guerre" (1906)
* "La marine moderne" (1910)
* "La marine moderne. Ancienne histoire et questions neuves" (1920)Notes
References
* Dedet, Christian. "Les fleurs d'acier du Mikado" (Paris: Flammarion, 1993) (in French)
* Bernard, Hervé. Historien de marine écrivain. " L'ingénieur général du Génie maritime Louis,Emile Bertin (1840-1924) créateur de la marine militaire du Japon à l'ère de Meiji Tenno" (en quadrichromie 84 pages, autoédition 2007, imprimerie Biarritz) (in French).
* Bernard, Hervé. Historien de marine écrivain. "Ambassadeur au Pays du Soleil Levant dans l'ancien Empire du Japon" (en quadrichromie, 266 pages, autoédition 2007, imprimerie Biarritz) (in French).ee also
*
France-Japan relations (19th century) Further reading
DSB
first= Birembaut
last=Arthur
title=Bertin, Louis-Émile
volume=2
pages=84-85
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.