Victor Baptistin Senes

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Victor Baptistin Senes (May 31,1857-April 27, 1915) French naval officer.

Born in Toulon on May 31, 1857, Sénès entered the Ecole Navale in October 1874. He reached the rank of Midshipman 2nd class in August 1876. he served on the battleship "Richelieu." He reached the rank of Midshipman 1st class the following year and was promoted in October 1879 to Sub-Lieutenant. He was also the Maneuvering Officer on the "Orne" in 1881, and he participated in the campaign of Tunisia. Three years later, when in command of the ship's machine guns at Tonkin, he distinguished himself during operations in the River Claire (Sông Lô River, also called the Lo River). Injured in February 1885, he was promoted to Lieutenant in March of that same year. He then headed the Secretariat General majority in Toulon in 1886, Sénès then passed through the School of Submarine Defense on the "Algesiras" in Toulon. Commissioned as a destroyer commander, he was finally ordered in 1890 to Destroyer Squadron 127 in the Mediterranean and in 1891 took comamnd of the torpedo boat "Éclair". In 1897, he took part in the operations of the international squadron sent in Crete during the Greco-Turkish War. He as promoted to Frigate Captain in 1898, and served aide-de-camp to the Ministry, and he became seconded to the General Staff particularly the Minister of War. He became chief of the 1st section of the General Staff in Toulon, and he was conspicuous in 1899 during the explosion of the powder magazine at Lagoubran near Toulon. Sénès became a Captain in 1905 took command of the battleship "Charles Martel" in the Mediterranean Squadron.

He was promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1911, and took command of the 2nd Division of the 1st Wing light on the armored cruiser "Léon Gambetta." At the beginning of the First World War, he took part in cruiser operations in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. On April 27, 1915, the "Léon Gambetta" was torpedoed by the Austrian-Hungarian submarine "U-5" off of Cape Santa Maria di Leuca. Sénès left voluntarily and then sank with his vessel.