Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère

Augustin Manuel Hubert Gaston Boué de Lapeyrère (18 January 1852 – 17 February 1924) was a French admiral during World War I. He was a strong proponent of naval reform, and is comparable to Admiral Jackie Fisher of the British Royal Navy.

Boué de Lapeyrère was born in Castéra-Lectourois, Gers into a family of sailors: his uncle was vice-admiral Augustin Dupouy, who becomes his mentor following the death of his father. He entered the École Navale in 1869. He took part in the Tonkin campaign during the Sino-French war and showed himself to be a leader of men and tactician, especially at the Battle of Fuzhou. Made Rear-admiral in 1902, he became Major general in Rochefort, where he had as aide-de-camp Pierre 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 for Brest (préfet maritime).

Boué de Lapeyrère served as Minister of Marine, a political position, from 24 July 1909 until 27 February 1911 in the governments of Aristide Briand. While in this position he championed the production of large capital ships, deferring the production of submarines and anti-submarine warships in favor of larger vessels. He reorganized the service and constructed many ships, in particular the Courbet-class dreadnoughts. He launched the naval air service.

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