accept and appointed him French Minister of the Navy and the Colonies on the 1st fructidor an V (18 August 1797). However, Pléville resigned as minister on 8 Floréal year VI (27 April 1798) because of a disagreement with Bonaparte over the Egyptian campaign and after having predicted the Aboukir disaster of 2 August 1798. By the time his first cousin became minister, Dumanoir had already been a captain for two years. Like many of his counterparts, he benefited above all from the accelerated advances of the revolutionary navy, from which emigration had just taken a large number of officers. French Directory On 15 December 1796, a fleet of 17 ships, 14 frigates, 6 corvettes or avisos, 6 barges and 20 transports and 21,000 soldiers, under the command of General Hoche, left Brest for the Irish expedition. Dumanoir commanded, under the orders of Rear Admiral Bouvet, the ship Révolution. As soon as he left, the army found itself dislocated by the ruse of an English frigate which, in the darkness of the night of the 16th to the 17th, gave false signals to some of the French ships. Burning fires and cannon shots deceived 6 ships and 6 frigates, which continued on their way, instead of obeying the vice-admiral who ordered them to turn back. When the day came, Morard de Galles and Hoche, mounted on the frigate Fraternité, found themselves alone and headed for Bantry Bay, designated for the army rendezvous. On the point of arriving there, they met the ship Revolution and the frigate Scévola sinking low in the water. Dumanoir took in part of the crew. The scattered fleet, without a leader, had headed, ship by ship, towards Bantry Bay, where the ships had waited for a few days, then, impatient, had left for the stampede. Hoche had to retreat. While the armies of the Republic won victories everywhere on the continent, England's fleets triumphed on every sea. Dumanoir was not yet twenty-seven years old when the Directory appointed him head of division in Messidor An V (July 1797). In the year VI (from 22 September 1797 to 21 September 1798), Dumanoir contributed to the preparations for the departure of the fleet for the Egyptian campaign. On 19 May 1798, the fleet left Toulon under the command of Vice-Admiral Brueys d'Aigalliers. Rear Admiral Gantheaume was the major-general of the squadron. Three other Rear Admirals commanded the divisions