Admiral and prominent member of the French nobility.

Chevalier de Saint-Louis (1757). Maréchal de camp (1761). Lieutenant general in the French navy (1763). Chevalier du Saint- Esprit (1767). Mayor of Brest (1772). Vice admiral (1777).

May have served as an emissary between Versailles and the Americans (1777). Commanded the French squadron dispatched to America (1778). Criticized for abandoning the siege at Newport (1778). Failed to retake St. Lucia, but captured St. Vincent and Grenada (1779). Wounded during an unsuccessful attack at Savannah (1779).

Made a citizen of Georgia (1786). Member of the Assemblée de Notables (1787). During the French Revolution, was named commandant (1789) and admiral (1792) of the National Guard. Guillotined in 1794.

Born in Ravel-Salmérange, Puy de Dôme. Alternate form of the name: Estaing, Charles- Hector.