Antoine de Sartine inherited a strong French Navy, resurrected by Choiseul after the disasters of the Seven Years' War (in which France had lost Canada, Louisiana, and India); a resurrected French Navy which would later defeat the British Navy in the War of American Independence. In the ministry, Sartine surrounded himself with able men, such as the comte de Fleurieu. He modernized and rationalized the French Navy. By seven decrees (September 27, 1776), he gave naval officers the high hand over French ports and naval dockyards, which were put under the direction of the comte de Fleurieu. He also reorganized the corps of naval artillery and marine infantry. In 1775, after the aborted attempt by his predecessor to create a Royal Marine School in Le Havre, he re-established the Companies of Marine Guards, naval schools training officers and whose access was strictly limited to children of the aristocracy.