FRENCH NAVAL POWER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 252, 24 October 1934, Page 13

FRENCH NAVAL POWER.

NORTH SEA MISGIVINGS. PARIS, September IG. As a result of the development of 10,000 ton super-cruisers of the Deutschland type by Germany, the French Navy on October 1 will shift three of its most important units from the Mediterranean to the North Sea. By order of Francois Pietri, Navy Minister, the battleships La Provence, La Bretagne, and La Lorraine —all old but modernised vessels—will be brought north on October 1 to reinforce the North Sea fleet of smaller vessels, under the command of Admiral Darlan. The Mediterranean squadron will then include only three battleships, the Paris, Courbet and Jean-Bart, and, like the Italian Navy, will consist mainly of small craft more remarkable for their speed than their individual power. France has felt that her North Sea fleet was outclassed since the placing in service of the Deutscliland last year, the launching by Germany of the Admiral Scheer and the Admiral Graf Spee, and the placing under contruction of a fourth ship of the same type. Her faith in line battleships is such that she believes the gap will be adequately filled, for the moment at least, by the shift contemplated.