Vice admiral

Vice Admiral

Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...

 Henri Salaun was an admiral in the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

. From 1 February 1920 to 1 February 1921, and again from 22 July 1924 to 31 December 1927, he was Chief of Staff of the French Navy

Chief of Staff of the French Navy

thumb|Admiral Pierre-François Forissier, CEMMThe Chief of the Staff of the French Navy is the head of the French Navy and responsible to the Minister of Defence for its preparation and deployment.As a naval expert, he assists:...

. With the naval minister Georges Leygues

Georges Leygues

Georges Leygues was a French politician of the Third Republic. During his time as Minister of Marine he worked with the navy's chief of staff Henri Salaun in unsuccessful attempts to gain naval re-armament priority for government funding over army rearmament such as the Maginot Line.He was born...

 he tried to get government funding priority for naval re-armament in coastal defence and the fleet, but many of the projects they initiated were delayed or cancelled due to priority instead being given to Army

French Army

The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

 projects such as the Maginot Line

Maginot Line

The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...

 (since Germany was seen as the main enemy and thus land re-armament as the priority). He did, however, preside over the opening of new docks and a deep-water basin at Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

 on Bastille Day

Bastille Day

Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July of each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale and commonly le quatorze juillet...

 1928, shortly after also presiding over a naval review

Review (disambiguation)

Review can refer to:*Review, an article reviewing a book or other object*Literature review, academic review of the scholarship within a field*Systematic review, a focused literature review that synthesizes high-quality research relevant to a specific topic...

 at the port.
He was the paternal grandfather of the squash player Henri Salaun.