By David Boey

27 January, 2007, Changi Naval Base, Singapore

The French Navy's oldest helicopter carrier, FS Jeanne d'Arc (R 97), and her escort, the anti-submarine warfare destroyer, FS Georges Leygues (D 640), steamed into Singapore waters on January 25 for a six-day port call.

The 12,000-ton carrier began her six-month long training cruise to the Far East when she left the port of Brest on December 5, 2006. Both ships are not due to return to France till early May this year.

The Jeanne d'Arc was last in Southeast Asia in January 2005, when the carrier spearheaded French humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations off Sumatra after the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami. The operation, codenamed Operation Beryx, saw Puma, Gazelle and Alouette III choppers from the Jeanne d'Arc deliver relief supplies to earthquake and tsunami devastated towns on the west Sumatra coast.

Two years on, the chopper carrier has returned to the region under happier circumstances. She hosted a tour for 16 members of the Militarynuts internet discussion forum (http://militarynuts.com) this morning.

The visit follows a recent tour of the French Navy's stealth frigate, La Fayette (F 710) - a design which led to the Republic of Singapore Navy's Formidable-class stealth frigates.

After clearing security at the RSN's Changi Naval Base, a French sailor escorted the Milnuts to the South Breakwater Pier where Jeanne d'Arc and Georges Leygues were berthed.

The 42-year-old helicopter carrier has a crew of 606 officers and ratings and this includes 130 naval cadets from 21 foreign countries. Her escort has a crew of 188 officers and ratings, including a fair number of women sailors.

Milnuts board the Jeanne d'Arc

We were welcomed aboard Jeanne d'Arc and each given an information pack with material on both warships, plus a handy booklet with information on all submarines, surface combatants, aircraft and helicopters used by the French Navy.

First stop was the bridge. Equipment installed when the Jeanne d'Arc was commissioned into service back in 1964, like the magnetic compass, serve alongside modern displays that plot the identity, bearing and speed of all vessels in the carrier's vicinity on a plasma screen.

The group was then guided to the forecastle, where we were shown the Jeanne d'Arc main armament of six MM.38 Exocet (French for flying fish) anti-ship missiles and a pair of Creusot-Loire 100mm dual-purpose guns.

The Jeanne d'Arc's hull is based on that of the French anti-aircraft cruier, Colbert. The carrier's design philosophy mirrors that of helicopter carriers built in the 1960s such as the Soviet Navy's Moskva-class and the Italian Navy's Vittorio Veneto - all of which packed guns and missiles on the forward end of the ship's superstructure and left the rear deck open for flight operations.

The sharp end of Jeanne d'Arc's firepower comes in the form of six Exocets, whose 23 nautical mile (43km) range is probably optimised with over-the-horizon targeting using the ship's embarked helicopters. To our surprise, the missile covers on each Exocet missile cell have to be unbolted manually, and this left some of us wondering how this arrangement would work in a hot war.

The 100mm guns are all that remain of a four-gun battery after two guns on the stern quarter were removed some years back and the gun cavity plated over. The 100mm guns can be laid electronically using the warship's fire control system, or fired under local control using optical sights. The max rate of fire is 80 rounds per minute. The quoted range for anti-surface engagements is 17km and the gun is said to be effective up to 8km in the anti-aircraft role.

It was then time to see how the ship operated her helicopters. At the heart of flight deck operations is the control station two levels above the 62m long and 21m wide flight deck. This location offers an unblocked, aft facing view of all activities on the deck.

Jeanne d'Arc's naval aviation

The Jeanne d'Arc can carry five Super Frelon choppers and two Alouette III light helicopters, or eight Super Pumas, or a mix of the three types.

For the duration of her training cruise, however, the Jeanne d'Arc carries two French Navy Alouette IIIs and a pair of French Army Gazelles.

After a quick stop inside the naval cadets living quarters, it was off to the spacious hangar. This facility occupies about a third of the ship's length under the flight deck and is flanked by aviation repair spaces.

Of particular interest to some Milnuts were the Alouette IIIs as this chopper type was the first helicopter used by the Singapore Armed Forces and airworthy examples are rarely seen in this region. Two Alouette IIIs were stowed in the hangar with a partially dismantled Gazelle.

Helicopters make their way from hangar to flight deck by a single elevator near the stern. This is supported by a huge piston (rather than cables which is the design American aircraft carriers use) which elevates and depresses the lift platform.

Our last stop on the tour - a weapons handling session - proved a hit with weapons enthusiasts among the Milnuts. The group was shown and allowed to handle the 5.56mm FAMAS assault rifle and a shotgun with a folding stock. Both weapons are used by the warship's boarding teams and to secure the ship from intruders.

It was a treat to handle the FAMAS and its bull-pup design with magazine in the stock of the weapon inevitably elicited comparisons with Singapore's own SAR-21 assault rifle, which is also a bull-pup rifle. One comment: the finger-activated firing selector on the FAMAS, just forward of the trigger, seems better placed than the SAR-21 firing selector, which is placed on the butt.

The Jeanne d'Arc is the sixth ship excursion attended by Milnuts forumers. Though most started out as strangers during the first trip, the visits have helped some forumers place a face to an otherwise anonymous nickname and the end of the latest tour was capped with lunch in the Eunos area.

We wish the Jeanne d'Arc and Georges Leygues bon voyage for the rest of the journey.

Many thanks to the French Embassy in Singapore, Marine Nationale and the Republic of Singapore Navy for supporting the Milnuts warship excursions.