FRENCH WARSHIPS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3147, 11 December 1922, Page 2

FRENCH WARSHIPS.

TO VISIT NEW ZEALAND. According to information received by the French Consul-General in Sydney, the French warships shortly to visit New Zealand ai'e to be the Victor Hugo and the Jules Michelet, not the Jules Ferry. Both warships are of over 12,000 tons burthen, and they shared in the duty of holding the Austrian licet in the" Adriatic during the war.

The squadron will proceed from Madagascar so as to reach Fremantle about the middle of this month, and will then call at Melbourne or Sydney. It s probable that a visit will later he made to New Zealand, and the squadron will then proceed via New Caledonia to the French possessions in Indo-China and to China and India. M. Campana, the French ConsulGeneral. informed a pressman that the officers and men of the squadron were looking .forward to their visit to the Commonwealth, and that he was confident that the visit would be mutually profitable. “It will be a good thing,” added M. Campana, “to renew the bonds of friendship l between France and Australia. It is many yeans since one of our fleets or squadrons visited the Pacific, and such a visit to onr possessions and to these parts of the British Empire is now really due. 1 believe the squadron will stay in Sydney for a week, when arrangements will be made on board to extend a hearty welcome to those who wish to inspect the vessels. No doubt there will be dances on hoard, and visitors will also he interested in a unique collection of ingeniocs mirrors on the Jules Michelet, in which can be seen in realistic fashion scenes from the commercial life of Paris, its delightful boulevards, monuments, and public buildings. It is. I believe, something quite novel, and its educational value should be considerable.” The cruiser Victor Hugo, which was completed in 1907, the keel having been laid four years earlier, has an average displacement of 12,518 tons, and carries 731 hands. Her length is 486Jft. beam 70£ ft, and mean draught 26Jft. Her armament consists of four 7.6 guns She is propelled by three screws, and can carry 1900 tons 1 of coal. On her trial trips she: succeeded in maintaining a, speed of 23 knots. The Jules Michelet was launched in 1908. her keel having been laid down at T.orient in 1904. This vessel has a displacement of 13.370 tons, and carries a complement of 720 hands all told Her length is 489 ft, beam 70-J-fi, and maximum draught Her armament consists of four 7.0 guns and twelve 6.5 guns, and the machinery comprises three sets of triple expansion engines, with a designed horse-)tower of 29.000. giving a speed of 22 knots. On her trial cruise she developed 30.438 h.p., her actual speed' being 22.9 knots. Her normal coal capacity is 1330 tons, hut she can carry 2100 tons. According to Jane, the Jules Michelet still steams well.