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Africa North
France sends carrier to Libya, conducts more flights
2011-03-21
PARIS - France sent an aircraft carrier towards Libya on Sunday and its warplanes carried out further operations over the north African country, armed forces and defence officials said.
The de Gaulle was in port in Toulon so it took them about 72 hours to get her ready to sail.
The Charles de Gaulle, the flagship of the French fleet, left the southern port of Toulon at around 1200 GMT, carrying around 1,800 crew members and some 20 aircraft.
The latter are the Rafale M, which is supposed to be a very good 4th generation strike fighter.
The carrier was accompanied by an attack submarine, several frigates and a refuelling ship, defence officials said.
I like to snicker about this ship, but since her last refit and repair in 2009 she's been quite busy. She just wrapped up operations in the Indian Ocean in support of our efforts in Afghanistan and got back to Toulon about four weeks ago.
"The French operations continue," said a source at armed forces headquarters. "French planes are in place (over Libya)."

President Nicolas Sarkozy's government, alongside Britain, was at the forefront of a campaign to win U.N. backing for a no-fly zone over Libya and to build an international coalition for military strikes to enforce it.

French planes fired the first shots on Saturday in the campaign to force Muammar Gaddafi's troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians.

France's leadership in the diplomatic and military arenas appeared to have rallied public opinion behind President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose approval ratings have been languishing near record lows ahead of presidential elections early next year.

Even former prime minister Dominique de Villepin, one of Sarkozy's bitterest political critics and a man, applauded the government's role. "France has, in these circumstances, been true to its ideals," he told the Journal du Dimanche newspapers.
Amazing what happens when you get out in front and lead...
Posted by:Steve White

#11  France sent an aircraft carrier towards Libya

And God willing, it will get there. ;-)
Posted by: gorb   2011-03-21 23:25  

#10  Hey, the French have immersed themselves in the highly competitive European world of "who is more over-priveleged?" They've been eating well biding their time watching us do all the heavy lifting. So it may turn out that they become the star pupils who take all the cake, for doing relatively little. We're not a tough act to follow with our watered down ROEs and hog-tied hearts and minds B.S. we've been emasculated into. Our military is a force for good, but not a very mean one unless you're talking SF, etc. French on the other hand are known to be quite mean at times and have no qualms. Read: conquest of former African Colonies. Passez- moi Le Popcorn, avec Le remote.
Posted by: Fi   2011-03-21 21:30  

#9  Check out the French with the big boy boat! Make sure the propeller is screwed on right!
Posted by: Hellfish   2011-03-21 18:22  

#8  "The demand for popcorn is going to increase rapidly."

Luckily I just got 2 boxcars dropped off on my rail siding, and 3 more on the way.

Extra butter with that? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2011-03-21 17:39  

#7  I'll go to my room now

No way. The demand for popcorn is going to increase rapidly.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2011-03-21 16:30  

#6  "France sends carrier to Libya . . . Charles de Gaulle, the flagship of the French fleet"

They found enough ocean-going tugs to tow her there?

[I'll go to my room now.]
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2011-03-21 16:24  

#5  Kinda makes me wonder if they aren't setting themselves up for serious problems if it's due for maintenance and supply & they just sent it out as-is. Maybe landing accidents, break-downs, that sort of thing? American carriers spend, what, six months in port in between deployments?
Posted by: Mitch H.   2011-03-21 15:37  

#4  Hmm... getting her ready to sail in only 72 hours (3 days...) seems like pretty quick to me for a carrier - after only arriving home 4 weeks ago.

But then I've never been in the navy so that is speculation.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2011-03-21 14:01  

#3  you can't play the cheap game of petty back biter in strategic and security matters close to home

That's the Arab League's job.
Posted by: Frozen Al   2011-03-21 13:55  

#2  Amazing what can happen when the French lead and still get Americans to fire 98% of the weapons.
Posted by: Oscar Spineck3066   2011-03-21 12:30  

#1  Amazing what happens when you get out in front and lead...

Amazing when the Americans disappear and you can't play the cheap game of petty back biter in strategic and security matters close to home. Stuff starts getting serious.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2011-03-21 12:03  

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