Charles Rigault de Genouilly was born and raised in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France, into a family with naval connections.

[2] He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1827, and served in the Morea expedition aboard the frigate Fleur de Lys during the Greek War of Independence.

[3] In August 1847 Victorieuse ran aground on the coast of Korea, but Rigault de Genouilly was exonerated from blame by a court of enquiry.

Between 1849 and 1851 he was captain successively of the paddle steamer frigate Vauban and of Charlemagne, the first screw-driven French battleship converted from a sailing ship.

[2] In 1853 he was appointed flag-captain of the ship of the line Ville de Paris by Admiral Hamelin and took part in the bombardment of Odessa on 22 April 1854, one of the early naval actions of the Crimean War.

Promoted contre-amiral (rear admiral) in 1854, he served with distinction in the siege of Sebastopol, where he was in command of the French marines (fusiliers-marins).

In January 1859 he proposed to the navy ministry an expedition against Saigon in Cochinchina, a city of considerable strategic significance as a source of food for the Vietnamese army.

In April Rigault de Genouilly returned to Da Nang with the bulk of his forces to reinforce Thoyon's hard-pressed garrison.

[6] In October 1859 Rigault de Genouilly, whose actions in Cochinchina had been severely criticised in France, was replaced by Admiral François Page, who was instructed to obtain a treaty protecting the Catholic faith in Vietnam but not to seek any territorial gains.

Rigault de Genouilly turned down the offer of command of one of the French fleets during the Franco-Prussian War and resigned as navy minister on the fall of the Second Empire after the battle of Sedan.