François Baron de Tott

François Baron de Tott (1733–1793) was a French officer of Hungarian descent who became a key Ottoman military reformer. He went to Constantinople in 1755 as secretary to the French ambassador, learning Turkish and gathering information on the Crimean Khanate, and served as consul in Crimea from 1767.

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 the Porte tasked him with defending the Dardanelles. He built a howitzer foundry and artillery units, fortified the Bosphorus, and began the naval science course that grew into the Ottoman naval school. After the French Revolution he returned to Hungary, where he died in 1793.