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I have been working of some French Cruisers with Colombamike when we got to Jeanne d'Arc I decided that my drawings were good enough to post. I contacted Jabba who is the original artist to obtaion his permission to post . . .so here is the French Training Cruiser

Jeanne d'Arc
was a school cruiser of the French Navy, the second ship to bear the name. She was built in Saint-Nazaire in only two years, on plans by engineer Antoine. She was designed both as a school ship, and a fully capable warship. She saw service through the Second World War, escaping to Halifax after the fall of France and eventually joining the Free French forces before the end of the war. Post war, the cruiser resumed her duties as a training ship, being retired in 1964.

Service history
In 1931, Jeanne d'Arc departed for her first cruise under capitaine de vaisseau André Marquis. As a prestige ship, she toured countries of South America where France wanted to increase her influence. The cruiser visited some of the Black Sea states in 1932.



A log of the ship and the nautical calculation notebook from 1937 can both be found at the "Mircea cel Batran" Naval Academy Museum[2] in Constanța, Romania. During that time, the ship undertook an instruction voyage around the earth, and the lieutenant kept a very rich log, illustrated with photographs.
During the Second World War, Jeanne d'Arc was assigned to the West Atlantic Naval Division, taking part in blockading German cargo ships in neutral harbours. In late May 1940, along with Émile Bertin, she departed from Brest for Canada with a cargo of gold from the Bank of France, under the command of Rear Admiral Rouyer. After an Atlantic rendezvous with the aircraft carrier Béarn, the flotilla reached Halifax safely. Jeanne d'Arc then went to the French West Indies, to stay harboured in the Martinique until July 1943.


In 1943, Jeanne d'Arc joined the Free French. In December, she took part in operations in Corsica and in Operation Dragoon. She was mentioned in despatches at the order of the Army for services rendered during the war.
Jeanne d’Arc June 1944:



Jeanne d’Arc June 1944



Jeanne d’Arc November 1959



She later resumed her service as school cruiser with 27 cruises around the world, before being decommissioned in 1964.

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French Vice-admiral Louis-René-Madeleine Le Vassor de La Touche, comte de Tréville
The original spelling of my last name is: LaTouche.

That's a great set of drawings David.

Beautiful drawings. I hadn't noticed the sharp angle of the turret fronts until now. Certainly interesting, reminds me slightly of the quad 130mm mounts.

Hi David

Excellent, you're getting better and better!

I think the 1944 version was likely painted in USN colours (the upper part Haze Gray, the lower one of several kinds of blue the USN used); maybe you should consult Colo's USN colouring table. I also used a very intense blue for my French cruisers, and that was probably wrong too.

Greetings
GD

I will check on that GD.thanks

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French Vice-admiral Louis-René-Madeleine Le Vassor de La Touche, comte de Tréville
The original spelling of my last name is: LaTouche.

VERY nice work!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

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#FJB

Great-looking series of drawings.
Interesting to see how little has changed on the ship in 30 years. Not that it ever was a first-class combat ship in the first place, to require extensive wartime updates.

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Excellent series!

Very nice work and a nice update on Jabba's work.

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