18.07.2009
Francuska Mornarica je odlučila da ostareli Školski brod "Jeanne d'Arc" (brod je u ratnim uslovima služio kao helikopterska krtarica) izbriše iz flotne liste i pošalje za Englesku gde će brod biti izrezan. Ova odluka je žestoko razgnevila veliki broj francuskih pomorskih oficira kojima se ne sviđa ideja da ovaj, svima omiljeni brod, simboličnog imena "Jeanne d'Arc" (Jovanka Orleanka) završi život od strane onih protiv kojih se ona borila.
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Oni su bili pristalice ideje da se ovaj brod od 13.000 tona potopi pre nego da se da u ruke "omraženim dželatima i krvnicima" ali zbog konstrukcije broda u koji je porinut 1964 godine i koja je prepuna azbesta i drugog štetnog materijala ova ideja nije ostvariva ....
U nastavku cela vest ...
French horror as "Jeanne d'Arc" to be "killed" by English again
French naval chiefs reacted with horror after it was announced that one of the country's best-loved warships, the Jeanne-d'Arc, is to be sent to England to be broken up.
One senior officer said that the prospect of the ship being "burned, martyred and dismembered" in England would be too much to stomach after the old enemy's earlier hand in the death at the stake in 1431 of France's national heroine, after whom the ship is named.
The ageing vessel, which is used by the French as a "floating embassy" in a similar role as the decommissioned Royal Yacht Britannia, is due to embark on its 45th and final world tour, after which it will be dismantled. Able UK, the British shipbreakers based on the River Tees, is reportedly in pole position to win the tender.
The Jeanne-d'Arc has come to symbolise the soul of the French navy, and has been used as a training vessel for all French sailors since 1964.
"Joan of Arc is the heart of the French nation," said Pierre-François Forissier, the French navy's chief-of-staff.
The idea that it might end its life on English soil was, according to naval officials cited by the newspaper Le Monde, "sad, painful, even unimaginable".
Many officers privately expressed a preference for the 13,000-ton boat being scuttled rather than taken apart by English hands. However, this is against international regulations, particular as it is constructed with dangerous materials, including asbestos.
Those prepared to speak on the record were more diplomatic.
"The English are Europeans after all, we have the same values," said Vice-Admiral Hubert Jouot, in charge of decommissioning French vessels.
"But, every now and then, a certain national pride manifests itself, like in sporting competitions."
Plans to turn the boat into a museum or a heliport in Saint-Tropez have foundered.
Able UK was recently chosen to dismantle another rusting French warship, the Clemenceau.
Vice-admiral Jouot warned fellow navy officials to stop getting sentimental over the Jeanne-d'Arc's fate. "We must stop being emotional; we will follow the public markets procedures. The best placed in the competition will win," he said.
Joan of Arc, a peasant girl born in eastern France, asserted that she had visions from God that told her to regain her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War.
She led the French army to a string of key victories that helped Charles VII be crowned King of France at Reims. However, she was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court and burned at the stake at the age of 19. She was later canonised.
Izvor: telegraph.co.uk
