Jean Cras

Jean Émile Paul Cras (; 22 May 1879 – 14 September 1932) was a 20th-century French composer and career naval officer. His musical compositions were inspired by his native Brittany, his travels to Africa, and most of all, by his sea voyages. As a naval commander he served with distinction in the Adriatic Campaign during World War I. Biography Life and naval career Cras was born and died in Brest. His father was a naval medical officer. He was accepted into the navy at the age of seventeen. As a midshipman cadet on the French cruiser Iphigénie, he travelled in the Americas, the West Indies and Senegal. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1908. His mathematical skills led to his proposing a number of innovations in technical practices which were adopted by the navy, including his invention of an electrical selector and a navigational plotter protractor known as (aka Cras ruler, Cras protractor, Cras plotter). (However, it was difficult to operate by some, which inspired the later development of the Breton plotter by Yvonnick Gueret.) With the outbreak of war in 1914 Cras was appointed as adjutant to Admiral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère. He later worked in the Submarine Defense Service. In