The sailors of the multi-mission frigate Alsace and the force supply ship Jacques Chevallier will remember these last twelve months for a long time. For both crews, the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 in particular were very intense.
“We spent seven months at sea – seven months of absence – during which we crossed the Arctic Circle and passed the Cape of Good Hope in search of tough conditions. But we also took the Bab el-Strait Mandeb and went up the Red Sea under the Houthi threat. For the first time, during the Akila mission, we were also integrated into the carrier group.summarizes Captain Pierre Ginefri, who will leave the ship on July 17.
But three days before, accompanied by around forty of his sailors, he will parade on Avenue Foch in Paris. “I am happy that the boat was chosen. It is a great recognition of the involvement of the crew. The most difficult thing was to choose 40 sailors among the 140 crew members”.
Very rare to be chosen
Among them, Master Alexis, specialist in aero-maritime operations on board. For the young petty officer, this will be his first parade in eight years in the navy. “Very few units are chosen each year. It is therefore a source of pride, an honor to parade in Paris”said the person concerned at the end of a morning of “paced” training on the western confines of the Toulon naval base.
If there are therefore not many vessels of the National Navy to be selected, the BRF Jacques Chevallier is not the only one elected this year. The multi-mission frigate Alsace will also represent the Naval Action Force in Paris. Quite a symbol.
Last January, theAlsace had in fact escorted the Jacques Chevallier in the currently unrecommended waters of the Red Sea. As evidenced by the five drones and three ballistic missiles shot down by the Toulon frigate! “This is one of the reasons why the boat was selected for the Parisian parade”, assures captain Jérôme Henry, pasha of Alsace for a year. And he too had to choose forty sailors from the 144 crew members, “all volunteers”. “It was done on merit, he slips. And also depending on each person’s ability to walk in step”.
Tame your fear
At 21, Petty Officer Calypso has clearly earned his place on Avenue Foch. A specialist in detection above the surface and in the air, she was at the forefront in the face of threats from the Houthi rebels. “Even though we have confidence in the equipment that we know to be efficient, the first time we see a drone or a missile coming straight at us, it’s a little scary. But we have to keep our cool and learn to tame it. this fear, to do with it”, says the young woman. Before entrusting his “pride of parading and being part of the boat’s guard of honor”.
The only slight disappointment comes from the main master Frank in charge of the training sessions in Toulon. If he has no doubt that the 80 sailors will be ready on D-day, he “regrets that the parade will not take place on the Champs-Élysées”.
