French Naval ship here

The French Naval Ship Jacques Cartier arrived at the Colombo Port on May 22. The ship carries a complement of 53 naval personnel on board and will be docked at the port of Colombo during Vesak celebrations.

The ship’s commanding officer paid a courtesy call on Commander Western Naval Area, Rear Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe of the Sri Lanka Navy at the Western Naval Command Headquarters in Colombo. The ship’s complement will participate in a special programme organized by the Sri Lanka Navy during their stay in Sri Lanka.

The crew will also dedicate one day to take part in a day long charitable activity with the support of Sarvodaya.

A team of volunteers will join with villagers to build a pre-school in Balagala in Wattala. The village has over 80 families whose main livelihood is manual labor and fishing.

The Jacques Cartier was built in the Naval Shipyards of the French West, Grand Quevilly (Seine-Maritime).

Laid down on October 9, 1981, she was commissioned on September 28, 1983.

On April 19, 2013 after 30 years of activity, the Light ferry ship (LSM) Jacques Cartier (Fourth in the series Champlain) left New Caledonia for a transit to Brest, where she will be decommissioned early July.