There is a famous quote attributed to Napoleon speaking to a naval engineer (Robert Fulton) in 1800 that may be apocryphal as I've never found a solid source for the quote but it is commonly retold as
"What sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense."
Even if the quote is just an invention it seems that the French Empire's Navy didn't begin adopting steam power until almost 50 years later. Were there any other navies in that time period who had a significant force of steam powered ships and were they able to compete with more traditional navies? When did steam navies render sail power obsolete militarily? What about commercially?
Other than the perceived absurdity intentionally lighting a fire on a ship were there good reasons for the French Empire to stick to what they had? Or is it possible that Napoleon missed out on an opportunity with that?
Robert Fulton went on to build the first steam powered warship in the world for the US Navy. The ship was the Demologos (later re-named the Fulton). She was a unique design. A catamaran, with a paddle wheel mounted between the two hulls to protect it from enemy cannon balls. She carried 26 32 pdr cannon, and was designed to protect New York harbor against the British in the War of 1812.
She was not delivered to the Navy until 1816, however, after the war was over, and never saw battle.
The first steam powered ship to go into battle against traditional sailing warships was the Karteria, which was built in Britain and fought for Greece in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottomans.
In 1827, in the battle of Salona, the Karteria sank 7 of 9 Turkish ships, demonstrating the effectiveness of her combination of steam power and heated shot.
The first French steam powered warship, the Sphinx was built in 1828.
Britain and France were the only nations to build (or convert) ships of the line to steam power, starting in 1847 in Britain, and continuing through the 1850s.
This era was short lived, however, as by 1860 both countries had switched to ironclads and the era of steam powered wooden battleships was over.
Other than the Karteria, there are very few other examples of wooden steam ships versus wooden sailing ships in battle.
http://www.captainfrank.co.uk/article/karteria-the-first-steam-warship-in-war-1826