FRENCH NAVY,

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 November 1939, Page 5

FRENCH NAVY,

PART IN MAINTAINING COMMAND OF SEA CLOSE CO-OPERATION WITH BRITAIN. MR CHURCHILL'S VISIT TO PARIS. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. LONDON, November 4. The visit to Paris of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr Winston Churchill emphasises the close co-operation of the French and British navies. The French navy today is a strong, highly efficient force. It is stronger in every arm than the (jerman navy, and its composition is peculiarly well suited to combat the German methods of sea warfare. Even at the outbreak of the war France had seven capital ships in commission. two being fast battle cruisers of 26.000 tons and armed with 13-inch guns. They are well suited for dealing with Germany’s “pocket” battleships and were, in fact, built as replies to those ships. France has seven large, fast cruisers mounting eight-inch guns and 11 sixinch gun cruisers. She has also 32 light cruisers—exceptionally fast ships of about 2500 tons mounting five 5.4inch guns. The French destroyer strength consists of 46 modern destroyers, while there are 79 submarines —a slightly greater number than Germany possessed at the outbreak of the war.

This fleet, with its large number of auxiliary craft is a formidable force which is playing an important part in the maintenance of the Allied sea power. Operationally, the co-opera-tion of the French and British navies has been close since the very beginning of the war. The French and British navies have been working in close liaison in the establishment and maintenance of patrols and the provision convoy escorts as well as in the prosecution of the offensive against the German U-boats. The French navy also has been playing an important part in the interruption of the German maritime trade and capturing German merchant vessels on the high seas. In this connection the capture by a French submarine of the German merchant ship Chemnitz and the escorting her into a'French harbour made submarine history. The Paris talks between the heads of the French and British navies, therefore. are but an outward visible sign of the friendly co-operation which is growing day by day.