History
of the Ship
The construction of the cruiser
Jeanne d'Arc was entrusted to Ateliers et Chantiers de Penhoët
in Saint Nazaire. The new ship, put on hold on August 31, 1928,
will be launched in record time: the wife of the Minister of Marine,
Georges Leygues, godmother of the ship will baptize it on February
14, 1930, only eighteen months after the start of its realization!
The Jeanne d'Arc, designed to be a training ship, is equipped with
all the equipment of a combat ship, and it must be able to carry
out combat missions in the same way as another cruiser, with however,
the handicap of being almost devoid of shielding ...
From October 1931, the ship,
now nicknamed "La Jeanne", set sail for a validation and
demonstration cruise. his journey will take him to the coasts of
South America and the Black Sea.
The school cruiser "Jeanne
d'Arc" will receive and train eight promotions of pupils in
Marine Officers until 1939. Throughout her cruises, "La Jeanne"
will thus carry the French colors all over the world.
At the outbreak of World
War II, the cruiser "Jeanne d'Arc" joined the Western
Atlantic Division. Within this unit, he will participate in the
blockade of German ships trapped in the ports of neutral countries.
In May 1940, in the company of the Cruiser Emile Bertin, "La
Jeanne" escorted a freighter carrying part of the gold from
the Banque de France to Canada. The French ships find the aircraft
carrier "Béarn" in the Atlantic, and reach the
port of Halifax without incident. The cruiser "Jezanne d'Arc
then joined the French West Indies where she was blocked and disarmed
until July 1943.
After joining the Free French
Naval Forces, the Cruiser-School joins the port of Algiers where
it perceives modernized equipment: its Anti-Air armament is seriously
reinforced and its aeronautical equipment is deposited in order
to allow the installation of equipment radar.
In August 1944, "La
Jeanne" was anchored in Malta and was used as artillery reinforcement.
On August 28, the cruiser-school transports from Algiers to Cherbourg,
part of the Provisional Government en route to Paris.
The ship then joined North
Africa before joining Task Force 86, until March 1945.
After the Armistice of May
8, 1945, "La Jeanne d'Arc" resumes its missions as a School
Ship and will carry out 19 cruises until 1964, date on which the
cruiser-school will be definitively withdrawn from active service.
A new school ship, the Helicopter Carrier "La Résolue"
will then take the name of the venerable ship and become the new
"Joan of Arc" which will in turn sail the seas.
