- Navy:
- Commune Flotilla, 1871
- Name:
- Flottille de la Commune
- Career:
During the Paris Commune uprising of March-May 1871) the communards organized a small naval force by arming two floating batteries (Commune, Dauphin), eight river gunboats (Liberté, Caronade, Claymore, Escopette, Estoc, Perrier, Rapière and Sabre), one yacht (Puebla) and two steam launches (Vedette Nº2, Vedette Nº4) of the old Seine Flotilla, abandoned by the Government when it escaped to Versailles. Most of the officers and sailors were volunteers from the river industries and merchant navy; all were under orders of the Commune Delegate for the Navy, Raymond-Émile Latappy. The Flotilla operated in the Seine in April-May, shelling the advancing Versailles troops. The gunboat Estoc was sunk by enemy artillery on 13 May and the rest were captured between the 22 and 24 May.