The French Navy frigate Courbet came into the Port of Cotonou yesterday, and is still loitering menacingly outside our window. Whenever I open the curtain, there she is, staring at me. According to my new best friend, Wikipedia, "the Courbet is a second-line multi-mission stealth frigate of the French Marine Nationale. She is the third French vessel named after the 19th century admiral Amédée Courbet. The Courbet took part in Opération Baliste. On 3rd of October 2006, an Israeli fighter penetrated her 2-nautical-mile (4 km) defence perimeter without responding radio calls, triggering a diplomatic incident. Israel apologised after official protests from the French government. Throughout September the ship was involved in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia, helping to recapture a yacht taken by pirates on September 2nd". Here's my top quality, non grainy photo of the Courbet taken through our salt-stained window:
And here's one of her at sea that I found earlier:
Imagine seeing this coming over the horizon in anger. Olly
1 comment:
Thanks for your blogs! We have a friend in the French special forces who was on the Courbet last Sept during anti-pirate activities and again a few weeks ago. He lived with us in Calif. during high school. It's such a small world--his ship being across from the AFM where his American brother is living (my son Ryan is on the ship).
Thank you for helping this mother of a Mercy Shipper keep up! Bless you and your beautiful family.
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