DASH TO NEW YORK

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1943, Page 5

DASH TO NEW YORK

FRENCH WARSHIPS

TO JOIN ALLIED FLEETS

LONDON, February 15

The famous French battleship Richelieu, of 35,000 tons, has reached New York from Dakar—crippled, but a valuable addition to the sea-power of the United Nations. She was escorted by several American destroyers.

The French cruiser Montcalm (7600 tord) and some destroyers have also reached United States ports. All these warships are to he refitted and will then join the Allied fleets.

The chief of the French naval mission to the United States said today that the warships would be used to keep the African sea lanes open. They had crossed the Atlantic under orders from General Giraud. All were of the most modern types, and their crews were eager to get to sea as soon as the work of refitting was completed. When the Richelieu made her dramatic dash across the Atlantic she had to dodge a U-boat pack and combat the roughest seas her crew had ever experienced.

The Richelieu was lying at Dakar when the port was attacked by British and de Gaullist forces in 1940, and her 15-inch guns played a big part in its defence. A few days later a party of British volunteers crept into the harbour in a motor-launch and exploded depth charges under her stern. Afterwards she was torpedoed by a British naval aircraft. This damage was patched up to enable her to cross the Atlantic, and she came through the storm without serious damage. The Richelieu was completed only one month before the fall of France.

The chief of the French naval mission also said today that the French naval units under General Giraud now total three battleships, an air-craft-carrier, three heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, nine destroyers, ten sloops, and 14 submarines.