Jeanne D'Arc

So yesterday for the first time in my life I set foot upon a surface ship that went to sea and was not a museum relic. It was an interesting experience. Not only that but it was a French warship. The Jeanne D'Arc(Joan of Arc) a helicpoter carrier that houses 8-10 helicopters and is a member of the French Training Squadron.

This ship's sole purpose is to take Officer's-in-training(Midshipman) a chance to go out to sea participate in real Navy exercises and get a feel for what it is like to be a Sailor. This ship is on a 6 month tour that started in December. Some of the comm and's most recent success involved the Jeanne D'Arc's successful attempt at thwarting some local Somali pirates.

What amazes me the most is the lack of security in the deployment schedules. Being a Trident Submariner we are not allowed to tell anyone outside of parents/spouses our deployment schedule and dates. But behold it all here I am sitting with a pamphlet that has the entire deployment schedule of the Jeanne D'Arc and what port it will be at and when it will be there.

It blows my mind!

But back to traditional submarine mentality. Another pamphlet has information on the Submarines in the French Fleet. Naturally I compared the French SSBN to American SSBN's. Here is the French stats:

Nuclear-powered Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN) Le Triomphant class
Length: 138m
Beam: 12.5m

14,200 tons submerged
1 nuclear reactor, steam turbines, 1 electric motor 30.5 mw
speed of 25 knots with 2 crews of 110

16 M-45 strategic missiles
4 x 533mm weapon tubes for F17 torpedoes or EXOCET SM-39 sub launched anti-ship missiles

1 multifunction sonar
1 very low frequency towed array sonar
1 acoustic telemeter
SYRACUSE communications system
SET combat system

Now all I need to know is what they are having for lunch tomorrow.

P.S.

This is pretty comical


YN2 Hurt with his new French cover he acquired.