Flotte du Ponant

The Flotte du Ponant (Atlantic fleet) was the overall term for the naval forces of the royal French navy under the Ancien Régime designated to communicating with the New World in general (and the French colonies in the Antilles and New France in particular) and protecting the maritime routes between there and France. (Its counterpart was the Flotte du Levant, based at Toulon. "Ponant" in French means "setting", where the sun sets, i.e., the west. "Levant", rising, has the same meaning as in English, the east.) The Ponant fleet was principally based at Rochefort and Brest.

This fleet appeared in the portfolios of the secretaries of state in 1626, the same year as Richelieu was named "grand maître de la navigation". The two fleets were united in 1642, then divided again in 1661. Both fleets were placed under the control of Jean-Baptiste Colbert from 1662, whilst he was "intendant des finances" and "minister of state" (he only became secretary of state in 1669). From then until the French Revolution a secretary of state had responsibility for the whole fleet.