Siege of Fort Crozon

The Pointe des Espagnols is the north-east extremity of the Roscanvel peninsula, an outgrowth of the Crozon peninsula closing off the roadstead of Brest. It also marks the south-east limit of the goulet de Brest (the other limits are marked by pointe des Capucins, pointe du Petit Minou and pointe du Portzic). Formed by a cliff that is more than 60m high, at whose summit and base are the remains of fortifications and barracks, the point reaches towards the north-east via the rocher de la Cormorandière, marked by a pole. The straight channel situated between the point and the rocher is the location for strong currents which affect the roadstead. This strategic position, facing Brest, was already noted by the Duchy of Brittany, who sited a fortlet there in 1387 (now lost). In 1594, Spaniards landed here and were only dislodged after several battles - it was in this period that the cape first took on its present name.

The Fort de Portzic was built near the town of Brest by Vauban between 1693 and 1699 as part of the defences of the goulet de Brest. It faces the pointe des Espagnols and was improved and enlarged over time (including the Phare du Portzic in 1848 and a semaphore station in 1987), since it formed the town's last and innermost defence. The buildings on the site remain in military use. Nearby is the lighthouse Phare du Portzic.

Roscanvel (French pronunciation: ​[ʁɔskɑ̃vɛl]; Breton: Roskañvel) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.

The lycée naval of Brest, created in 1966 as « collège naval », is one of France's six military high school under custody of the French ministry of Defense. This school is part of the Naval Instruction Center of Brest and has two missions: to help the families and to help the Navy's recruitment.

The École de maistrance is the training school for future non-commissioned officers in the French Navy. It was set up in 1933 under this name, it is now part of the Brest Naval Training Centre and within the remit of the Direction du personnel militaire de la marine (DPPM). It is currently headed by capitaine de frégate Gabriel Steffe. The school has an annual intake of up to 400 young people aged 18 to 25, from "bac à bac +2" level - on 14 July 2008, for example, it had 224 students in total, including 55 women. The initial course lasts 18 weeks, followed by 6 months' specialist training (3.5 years for medical students) and 3 weeks complementary training in management. Students wear the rank badge of a "second maître maistrancier" (equivalent to quartermaster, 1st class), with the blue stripes bordered in red, and become second maîtres on graduation. In 1958 the École de maistrance received the banner of the École des mousses, decorated with the Légion d'honneur, the Croix de guerre 1914-1918, the Croix de guerre 1939-1945 and the Croix de guerre des Théâtres d'opérations extérieures.

The Brest Naval Training Centre (the Centre d'instruction naval de Brest, or CIN) is one of the main training centres for the French Navy. Housed in the Brest naval base, the CIN is made up of the lycée naval (a lycée that also prepares students to enter France's officer-training schools), the École de maistrance (training future naval non-commissioned officers) and the seamen's training school.

The Goulet de Brest (French pronunciation: ​[ɡulɛ də bʁɛst]) is a 3-km-long strait linking the roadstead of Brest to the Atlantic Ocean. Only 1.8 km wide, the goulet is situated between the Pointe du Petit Minou and the Pointe du Portzic to the north and the îlot des Capucins and the Pointe des Espagnols to the south. At each turn of the tide, the ocean refills the roadstead in a current that can attain 4 to 5 knots. Sailing ships would thus wait in the cove of Camaret-sur-Mer for a favourable current to carry them into the goulet. On 2 January 1793, the Childers Incident – the first shots of the war between Great Britain and France during the French Revolutionary Wars – took place in the goulet.

Forming part of the chain of fortifications along the goulet de Brest, the fort du Dellec was built by Vauban in the 17th century, then rebuilt several times, notably in the 19th century when casemates were added for barracks and munitions storage. A German blockhouse typical of those on the Atlantic Wall was also added here by the Germans. It is located on the coastal paths between Brest and Le Conquet in the commune of Plouzané. The fort has been open to the public for some years. Two viewing points allow views of the cliffs of the Crozon peninsula and the Goulet, and there is a marina in a nearby small creek.

The École nationale d'ingénieurs de Brest (ENIB) is a French grande école leading to the French “Diplôme d’Ingénieur” under the authority of the French Ministry of Education and Research.

Île des Morts (Island of the Dead) is a 7-hectare island in the Bay of Roscanvel, to the south-west of the roadstead of Brest, between the Quélern peninsula and Île Longue. It is 26m above sea level at its highest point.

La pointe de Cornouaille is a cape to the north of the hamlet of Kerviniou in France. They are both situated on the Roscanvel peninsula and, facing as it does the Fort du Mengant, a battery on the point forms part of the defences of the goulet de Brest. Known defences on the site include: Lower battery (1694) - built to plans by Vauban Tour modèle n°1 (1813) - see Tour-modèle type 1811 Batterie de rupture sous roc (1888) Batterie du plateau (1897) Batterie de DCA allemande (1943, German) Torpedo-boat battery (German)

Télécom Bretagne (formerly known as ENST Bretagne) was a French grande école of engineering, and a research centre providing training in information technologies and telecommunications. In 2017, it merged with École des mines de Nantes to form IMT Atlantique. As a member of the Institut Mines-Télécom, it had three campuses: Plouzané, in the Technopôle Brest-Iroise, near Brest (France); Campus de Beaulieu, in Rennes (France); SUPAERO campus, in Toulouse (France).Télécom Bretagne had been the source of breakthroughs in the world of telecommunications, notably the turbo codes (first published in Proc. IEEE ICC'93) used extensively in 3G mobile telephony standards.