Aircraft Carriers - France: Books - History and Ships

A bord du Charles de Gaulle

Flagship of the French Navy, the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is an extraordinary vessel. A floating city that never rests. Engaged since 2001 in multiple war missions and manned by an exceptional crew of 2 000 men and women, the "Charles" and its carrier battle group have forged a leading operational tool. Fascinating, demanding and essential for the defense of France's interests, the aircraft carrier is one of those special ships that write history.

Embarked during the Arromanches III mission in Syria and Iraq, photographer Benjamin Decoin and journalist Cyril Hofstein went to meet these exceptional sailors, engineers, air traffic controllers, atomic scientists, pilots, boatmen, mechanics, firefighters, marines, cooks and bakers who take turns day and night and in all weathers to carry out their mission.
They have succeeded in magnificently conveying, through their text and images, the crew spirit that drives this 42 500-ton steel giant, capable of traveling 1 000 kilometers per day.

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La Jeanne-d'Arc - Le dernier voyage

She will have scoured the seas for almost fifty years, from Brest, her home port, to the most legendary places on the planet. She will have crossed all the capes, welcomed heads of state and celebrities on board, and rescued disaster-stricken populations.
Until the last moments of her long career, she will have served France. She is the Jeanne-d'Arc, the legendary helicopter carrier of the French Navy which, from 1964 to 2010, fulfilled her mission of training naval officers by leading her crews across all the oceans.

For her last voyage, the Jeanne-d'Arc set sail for the southern seas, skirting Cape Horn one last time before flirting with Patagonia, then heading back to Panama, New York and finally Europe. On May 27 2010, she returned to Brest for the last time and on September 1 she lost her name to become a simple grayish hull.

This book invites you aboard the Jeanne-d'Arc for its final voyage, to discover the lives of its sailors, through the grandiose landscapes of the southern seas and the channels of Patagonia. The book is prefaced by Prince Albert II of Monaco.

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