Napoleon's adopts Robert Fulton's steamship?

IOTL, Napoleon devoted a huge amount of resource into its Navy, with dismal outcomes. France has lost the cream of her navy during the Revolution, with its officer corp guillotined and experienced sailors untrained, and had arguably never recovered ever since.

What if Napoleon reckoned that French Navy would never be a match again with the Royal Navy in terms of training, and tried to offset the gap by adopting new technology? What if he gave the steamship a try despite the Académie française's suggestions against it?

He did but he came to power 7 years too late. The problem, as you said, is that the french revolution was a catastrophee for the french Navy.

And whatever Navy you build, with or without steam, it takes many years to train it and have it operate efficiently. For this, you need to operate and train in the high seas ... where the Royal Navy is waiting for you.

Napoleon was too impatient to wait for the necessary time and he was locked into a continuous chain of wars.