La Jeanne retiring by Zuzana Zelenakova

Jeanne d´Arc (Joan of Arc) being a national heroine of France is one of the most recognizable French articles. It is also a name given to the vessels of the French Navy. There are three of them. However, one, Jeanne d´Arc (R97) nicknamed La Jeanne, is set to be decommissioned soon. It is a helicopter cruiser commonly used for training purposes. Of course, in war time it would became fully operable helicopter cruiser. The problem today is that the weight and size of helicopters is increasing, therefore the use of La Jeanne in case of any war conflict would be limited. The vessel which was launched in 1961 is to be decommissioned in May 2010. Its future is undecide! d yet. One of the possibilities was suggested by St. Tropez residents. According to them La Jeanne could be used as a landing strip mostly for the helicopters of the rich and famous. Jean-Claude Molho, the president of Halte Hélico, the group pushing the idea forward, said: "We thought it could be a good solution as there are already many landing strips for helicopters and we could also transform it into a hotel and restaurant to combine tourism with the practical issues." Ever since St. Tropez has become one of the most prominent holiday spots in Europe its air traffic has experienced enormous boom. Annually, about 45,000 people get to the city by helicopter and they often are landing in various unofficial heliports and thus disturb local citizens. French Navy officials consider the idea impossible given the money required for such a project. Or maybe they do not approve of such an end for one of the icons of the French Navy. However, Molho does not give up. "We can! not stop now as we have an urgent problem that needs to be sol! ved," he said. "We are not laying down our arms yet."

related story (sgx16425): http://www.france24.com/en/20100202-jeanne-arc-last-trip-ves...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

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