During World War I, Abrial served in command of a high-seas patrol boat until 1917, when he joined the Naval Ministry's anti-submarine division.

In 1939 he was charged with protecting French overseas trade as well as the north coast of France, and the following year General Maxime Weygand named him as Commander-in-Chief of the northern naval forces.

[1] The operation began on 26 May with the requisitioning of several private boats in attempts to organize assistance from the French Navy.

After evacuation, Abrial was based in Cherbourg — where, as senior officer, he was forced to surrender the port to the Germans on 19 June.

After the Provisional Government of the French Republic re-established the Haute Cour de justice, that court condemned him for his Nazi collaboration and sentenced him to ten years of forced labor.