It is rumored that the device could distinguish her teeth at a range of 90 miles.
Posted on 04/19/2006 8:44:57 AM PDT by inkling
PARIS (AFP) - The French navy made a red-faced admission that it had lost a multi-million dollar sonar navigation device after its cable ripped in stormy waters.
Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie confirmed a report in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine, and said an investigation had been launched into how the three-million-euro (3.7-million-dollars) device was mislaid.
"An inquiry is underway to determine whether a technical or a human error is at the origin of this problem," she told reporters.
Le Canard Enchaine reported that the captain of the De Grasse frigate, decided against his lieutenants' advice to try out the 10-tonne sonar in rough seas, during an exercise in the southwestern Gulf of Gascony on March 24.
The top-of-the-range device -- one of the most sophisticated in the world, capable of detecting an enemy submarine at a distance of 150 kilometres (90 miles) -- was part of a 50-million-dollar underwater combat system.
Come on, how can you take seriously a country with a Defense Minister named Michele?
alternate headline? French Sonar Dish Surrenders itself to the Sea.
HA HA!
Headline should have been: SONAR LOSES FRENCH NAVY AT SEA.
They probably sold it to Iran. I mean, what whould the French need a Sonar for? Their policy is surrender first.
The captain's nickname wouldn't be "Old Yellow Stain" would it? (obscure "Caine Mutiny" reference.)
Even their towed arrays surrender at the first sign of danger.
Ah, it's no big deal. To find such a large item in the sea, all they need is a large sonar that... whoops... never mind.
The French Navy always loses.
Karl Rove musta stolen it. Take that, Chirac!
As fun as it is laughing at French military, sure sounds like the socialist labor that built the cable didn't do the job right. What the heck is the use of it if you can't use it in rough seas ?
The French have a Navy? I guess that's just in case they have to surrender at sea?
Good luck firing them.
Not to worry, Inspector Clouseau is on the case.
Perhaps he was searching for the prop that fell of their state-of-the-art aircraft carrier a few years back.
I had the same thought.
What better way to hide a sale of this technology than to say " we lost it at sea."
I don't trust the French any further than I can throw one of their Sonars into the sea.
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