Raoul Victor Patrice Castex

Born Oct. 27, 1878, in St. Omer; died Jan. 11, 1968. French naval theoretician, admiral (1935).

Castex joined the navy in 1898. He taught at a naval school, being its director in the 1930’s, and then at the Institute of Advanced Studies of National Defense. He retired in 1939.

Castex wrote many theoretical works on military questions. In the most important, on strategic theory, he denies the advisability of big naval engagements and argues that the main task of the navy is to defend its own sea communications, to disrupt the communications of the enemy, and to participate in landing operations in cooperation with other services in the armed forces; he emphasized the special importance of naval forces in protracted wars.