FRENCH CRUISER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22975, 1 March 1938, Page 13

FRENCH CRUISER

JEANNE D'ARC ARRIVES FLOATING SCHOOLROOM TEACHING MIDSHIPMEN NOVEL FEATURES OF SHIP After being saluted by a battery at | North Head, the French training cruiser Jeanne arrived off the city at 8.30 yesterday morning and waa guided to a berth at Western Wharf, where she will remain until Monday before leaving for Noumea, New Caledonia. With her cut-away decks and long line of midshipmen's cabins giving her an appearance, not dissimilar from that of a passenger ship, she was in marked contrast with the war vessels New Zealanders are accustomed to see. The Jeanne D'Arc is almost a floating schoolroom. She was built -mainly for instructional purposes and not for fighting. There are certainly all the accoutrements of war on beard, including eight 6.lin. guns, four 3in. antiaircraft batteries, six 37 millimetre guns, two 21.7 in. torpedo tubes and two spotting seaplanes, but, as is the case with the rest of her equipment, these are primarily for training the 119 midshipmen and 550 petty officers and ratings in the science of naval warfare and routine. Midshipmen's Studies One deck has been set aside for the midshipmen. At one end is the schoolroom, furnished with the familiar desks, where set studies are carried out every day. Behind the instructor's desk, but closed from the room by folding doors, is the altar. The midshipmen's cabins are also in themselves studies, for during the daytime the hammocks in which the midshipmen sleep are stowed away to give room for the use of the bookshelves and tables with which they are provided. For the commander, Captain Paul Auphan, the youngest officer of his rank in the French Navy, a spacious day cabin and dining room have been built. The second in command, Capita ine dc Fregate Penet, has rooma alongside the commander and most of the other officers have cabins under the quarter-deck. Taking its cue from the name of the ship, France has fittingly commemorated the valorous deeds of Joan of Arc by insetting bronze plaques bearing coats of arms upon aft the four gun houses. The Ship's Officers In addition to Captain Auphan and Captain Penet the Jeanne d'Arc carries the following - officers:—Capitaine da Corvette Archambeaud, director of studies for the midshipmen; M. I'Ab.be Pierra, chaplain; Chief Engineer Officer Dessoudres; Chief Naval Architect Officer Chevalier; Chief Medical Officer tougerat; Lieutenant de Vaisseau, A.D.C.; Engineer-Officer (First Class) Royau; Lieutenants de Vaisseau du Garreau (gunnery), Guermeur (navigating), de Pit ray, Saint-Guily and Lacoste (aviation); Medical "Officer (First Class) Coulanges; Lieutenants de Vaisseau Molenat (signals) and du Vignaux; Engineer Officers (First Class) Giraud and Lambert; Paymaster (First Class) Requier; Lieutenants de Vaisseau Cornuault, Cagne, Battestini and Duclos; Engineer Officers (Second Class) Lahontaa and Cluchier; Surgeon Sub-Lieutenant (dentist) Fontanel. The Jeanne D'Arc is a comparatively new ship, having been launched in 1931. Ojl her trials she reached a speed of 27.84 knots. Her displacement is 6496 tons, slightly smaller than that of the Leander and Achilles, although the widely spaced funnels and relatively large amount of equipment carried on the bridge deck gives her a possibly heavier appearance.

1 FORMAL CALLS MADE I WREATH LAID AT CENOTAPH COUNT VON LUCKNER'S VISIT A series of official calls was paid upon the commander of the French cruiser Jeanne D'Arc, Captain Paul Aupha.n, yesterday, and was later returned by him. The ship was met in the stream by the new French Consul, M. Gabriel Pouquet, and the actingconsul, M. Edmond Meyer, and when the vessel berthed at Western Wharf the first official call was made by Commander C. B. Tinley, officer in charge of the lievonport Naval Base, and Commander G. N. LoristonClarke, commander of the Imperial escort vessel Wellington. Shortly afterward Colonel 0. H* Mead, officer commanding the Northern Command, and Colonel X. W. McU. Weir, general staff officer, called upon the captain. Aji unexpected call v. as that of Count Felix von Luckner, whose arrival was not understood by many of the French officers until they were told his identity. Captain Auphap later called on tha Apostolic Delegate, the Most Rev. J. Panico, and Bishop Liston, and also visited the Auckland Harbour Board to call upon the chairman, the Hon. j. Blood worth, M.L.C. He returned the official naval call at mid-day and lunched op board the Philomel. In the afternoon Captain Auplian, Commander Tinley and Commander Lorist on -Clarke laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in the presence of French and British detachments. Last night Captain Auphan and his officers attended the welcome ito Archbishop Panico. 10-day the chief function will be a 'dayoral reception to the captain and crew in the Town Hall. For the petty officers and men a complete programme of entertainment! has also been arranged by the Flying Angel Missions to Seamen.

TRAVELS OF FLAG CARRIED ON CRUISER CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS BANNER Carried 011 board the French cruiser Jeanne D'Arc is a bannei which is being taken round the world bv the commander. Captain Paul Auphan. for the Sisters of Charity at Port Said. Called a banner of Our Lady, it was made by the Poor Clares of Haubourdin, near Lille, for the Cathedral of Port Said, but later it was decided that the Sisters of Charity of the convent near the cathedral should have a share, in making it, and it was while the banner was being completed that one of them suggested that it should be carried around the world to give significance to a saving that the world would be a better place when -Uary was borne about it —meaning when devotion to her became universal. ' Xo means, however, of carrying out this suggestion were presented to the sisters until the arrival of the Jeanne D'Arc on its way out to the Pacific. Captaim Auphan then placed his ship at the disposal of the sisters for carrying the flag, ..md since then it has been in the care of the chaplain, the Rev. Father Pimra, who has placed it near the altar in the midshipmen's schoolroom. When the Jeanne D'Arc finally returns to France ments will be made to take the banner on to Port Said, where it should arrive again in Mb& • ;'i;