SUPPOSE every Frenchman could roll off a long list of famous French generals, from Turenne and Conde, Napoleon and his marshals to Joffre, Gallieni and Foch; but I doubt whether one in a hundred could give you the name of any admiral of his country's fleet but Suffren, and I am not sure that even he could tell you why exactly this great sailor has achieved renown.
For the French have never taken the same interest nor taken the same pride in their navy, It needed the determination of M. Leygues, Minister of Marine, inspired by the enthusiasm of a young officer who is now Admiral Darlan, Commander in Chief, to induce the reluctant deputies to vote at last sufficient funds to reorganise the French navy and thus in due course bring it to its present high state of efficiency.
The French navy goes about its! job modestly and discreetly, with the result that the public, both in France and in England, has little notion, either of its strength or of the splendid work it has been doing during the war. it has sunk many German submarines and seized hundreds of thousands of tons of German goods. It has made the Mediterranean as safe as the Lake of Lucerne. It has protected the great Atlantic ports in France and Morocco and has transported vast numbers of troops to and from French Colonies. It convoyed the British troopships on the latter part of their passage of the Channel till their arrival in French harbours.
I was fortunate enough to be able to go to sea in a French heavy cruiser and in a torpedo boat while they carried out certain routine exercises.
I found that the first difficulty confronting the stranger in a French man-of-war is the mode of address.
In the army you address a general as mon general, a major and a captain as mon comanandant and mon capitaine respectively; but in the navy you say. oni, amiral, to an admiral, and you address captains, commanders and lieutenant commanders as Commandant; other officers you address by their names. I received the impression that the officers' relations with one another were cordial and wonder that with dozens of ships looking for her, a raider may escape detection.
My commander was a big, vigorous, energetic man, and now as he stood on the bridge, his spirits rose with the excitement of the chase. His face was set and even in the darkness you could see the shining of his eyes, We pounded on to the empty night and heavy seas swept over our bows Then a wireless from one of the torpedo boats told us that the cruiser had been sighted; and we changed our course and suddenly there was a cry from a dozen throats. The moon was favourable and showed us a vague black mass faintly silhouetted against the sky. Although it was only make-believe, it was a thrilling moment, The commander gave an order, we changed our course again to get into position; a sudden crash of thunder and we had fired our torpedoes. D'you think you got her?" I asked. I don't know, we shall hear tomorrow," polite without being intimate.
Proud of Ship The commander was proud of his ship, as a racing motorist might be proud of the car that had served him well, but it was not his home was the house Toulon where his wife and children waited for him. And aps it is natural that the naval officer of today, a highly-trained specialist, should look upon the modern battleship as an instrument under his hand, a delicate, powerful but inanimate instrument, rather than with the warm feeling with which the sea captain of old looked upon his sailing vessel. The officers I was fortunate enough to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.