Numéro : 2628 - Year : 2012
Paul Hoste and the first naval architecture development, 1685-1700
Larrie D. FERREIRO, Defense Acquisition University, Department of Defense (USA)
Paul Hoste, a Jesuit mathematics professor at the Ecole des Gardes de la Marine in Toulon, wrote the first attempt at a synthesis of naval architecture, Théorie de la construction des vaisseaux (1697). The work was very influential in its era, but has never been critically analyzed, nor has the role of Hoste in the early development of naval architecture been evaluated.
This memoir will provide a short background on Hoste and his position as both a Jesuit and as a professor in the Gardes de la Marine. It will examine the role of Admiral Tourville on his career, and the development of Hoste’s theories in tactics and maneuvering. This memoir will then analyze his most important work, Théorie de la construction des vaisseaux, exploring its mathematical roots in the philosophy of Aristotle and assessing its effects on the later developments in naval architecture. The memoir with then examine Hoste’s ideas for implementing his ideas from Théorie de la construction des vaisseaux, as described in an unpublished manuscript Architecture navalle, ou pratique de la construction des vaisseaux.
The memoir will conclude by placing Hoste’s works into the context of the evolution of naval architecture.
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