His son Antoine-René Thévenard, capitaine de vaisseau, was killed at the Battle of Aboukir whilst commanding the 74-gun Aquilon.

[1] He was appointed Knight of the Order of Saint Louis[3] and rose to captain in 1773,[1] commanded the Lorient fleet from 1779,[4] was promoted to Brigadeer of the naval armies in 1784,[3] and eventually to Chef d'escadre in 1783.

[4][note 1] In May 1791, Thévenard replaced Fleurieu as ministre de la Marine under Louis XVI,[3][4] but resigned in September 1791,[4] fallen out of favour because of his political opinions against the French Revolution.

He similarly presided at the court-martial following the capture of the Guillaume Tell in 1800,[8] and the enquiry on the conduct of Rear-Admiral Dumanoir le Pelley at the Battle of Trafalgar.

[2] In this capacity, he voted for the dismissal of Napoléon in 1814,[3] which earned him an appointment to the Chambre des Pairs by Louis XVIII after the Bourbon Restoration in 1814.