French cruiser Jeanne d'Arc (R97)

The Jeanne d'Arc (R97) was a helicopter cruiser of the French Navy. She was the third vessel of the French Navy named after Joan of Arc ("Jeanne d'Arc", in French), a national heroine of France and saint of the Catholic Church who repelled the English invasion during the Hundred Years' War.

In peacetime, the Jeanne d'Arc was used for teaching and training purposes; however, in case of emergency or crisis, she was to have become a fully capable helicopter cruiser. This idea is now invalid because of the increasing size and weight of helicopters.

The Jeanne d'Arc was built as La Résolue, as her predecessor, the Jeanne d'Arc of 1930, was still in service. She was renamed Jeanne d'Arc in 1964. The ship was retired in May 2010 and decommissioned in September 2010.

Missions
In peacetime, Jeanne d'Arc was a teaching and training vessel for the naval officers' application academy, and at the same time possessed an aerial group of 2 Aérospatiale Puma helicopters and 2 Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopters of the light aviation of the French Army, as well as two helicopters Alouette III of naval aviation.

Jeanne d'Arc was capable of combat deployment, either in the anti-submarine warfare role with 8 WG 13 Lynx helicopters, or in for external missions by carrying Puma or Gazelle helicopters from the light aviation of the French Army. Initially, she was also able to carry landing troops and Sikorsky or Super Frelon helicopters.

Jeanne d'Arc could carry about 10 light or heavy helicopters and simultaneously handle the takeoff and landing of 3 helicopters.

The ship was used as part of the rescue effort of Le Ponant during the April 2008 hostage-taking incident

Jeanne d'Arc commenced her final voyage on December 2009. The last trip included visits to Africa, South America including Rio to Buenos Aires, the French Antilles, the United States of America including New York city and Canada. The voyage was completed in May 2010 with a return to the port of Brest in France arriving in port at 13:30 Hrs on 27 May 2010. On its final mission, Jeanne d'Arc, continued to in perform in its role as a training vessel for French navy midshipmen. On this final voyage she was accompanied by the frigate Courbet (F712), a La Fayette-class stealth frigate, and carried a French training squadron with 103 young cadets, including twelve from nine foreign countries.

End of service formalities
The helicopter carrier Jeanne d'Arc was formally removed from active service in the French Marine nationale on 7 June 2010. The necessary disarmament operations were formalised by decree of the Ministry of Defence on 4 June 2010 and announced in the Official Bulletin or the Marine Nationale, Edition No. 26 on 25 June 2010. The announcement stated that these disarmament procedures where to be conducted under the authority of the Admiral commanding the Naval Action Force (ALFAN), the Minister of Defence and the Deputy Chief of Staff, Support and finance", Hubert Sciorella.

On 1 September 2010, at 11:30, Jeanne d'Arc's colours and name were withdrawn, formally ending her life as a ship in the Marine nationale. This last ceremony of the colours on Jeanne d'Arc (R 97), first commissioned in 1964, was held in the ship's home port of Brest. The Jeanne d'Arc's tri-colour flag was formally returned to the ship's last commanding officer, Captain Patrick Augier, the commander of the Atlantic maritime region, Vice Admiral Anne-François de Saint Salvy and the Force Commander of naval action in Brest, Vice-Admiral Jean-Pierre Labonne. Following the lowering of the flag the ships remaining sailors removed the strip of cloth bearing the name Jeanne d'Arc from their caps revealing the markings "Naval Action Force" and the ships name on the stern was painted out leaving only the hull number R 97 to identify the ship.

Following disarmament in l'Arsenal basin at Brest the ship continued to be moored at the naval base. On 9 September 2010 the former Jeanne d'Arc was removed of its naval number R 97 and moved to Piriouas as the hull Q 860 to conduct the work of securing the hulk and extracting the remaining recoverable hardware. The task of establishing an inventory of hazardous materials present on the vessel will take place in the naval yards prior to dismantling the hull and could take up to two years. A tender will then be spent for its dismantling. The French Navy currently has 76 hulks ready to be dismantled. The issue remains sensitive following problems arising from the disposal and dismantling of the former Clemenceau.

Similar Vessels

 * Vittorio Veneto
 * Andrea Doria class
 * Moskva Class