Marine Nationale in the Cold War
According to the government proposals, debated since 09 July 1947, funds for the period of 1948 amounted to 32 billions, 390 millions (in round numbers) for ordinary expenses and 14 billions, 115 millions for reconstruction and equipment, and over 3 billions for the common section. But these figures constituted a budget for marking time, the only kind conceivable in the financial crisis the country was experiencing.
The work in progress included the completion of the Jean-Bart, and the laying clown of the Carrier 28, christened Clemenceau, whose plans had been completed and allotment of steel plate provided; the reconstruction of the port of Brest, where progress was being made on the rebuilding of the gravingdock, the dam, the shipping and flotilla wharves, the re-grouping of the demolished ships and the layout of a subterranean electric plant; and finally the fitting out of the major base of operations at Mers-el-Kebir, whose north pier is completed and the east one started, not to mention the beginning of the program of the tidal-basin and the future yard. After the National Assembly, the Council of the Republic took a strong stand against any dispersion of credits concerning yards and docks, insisting on their concentration, at least for the present, on the principal ports.
As for the future, the Secretary of State resolved to maintain a fleet of 400,000 tons and 20 aeronaval flotillas (presupposing the existence of 4 aircraft carriers), announced the submission to the Parliament in 1949 of a naval program, the "so-called transition plan of 1950," calling for 25,000 tons of light craft. The effort would concern chiefly naval aviation, submarines, and destroyers, which are scarcely represented in our fleet today, apart from units of foreign origin, German or Italian. Finally, whereas Dakar at this moment could do little but shelter convoys, refuel and supply an intervention force, and repair a few light ships, a plan has been established for transforming it, as soon as circumstances permit, into a first-class strategic base, capable of answering all the needs of fleets operating in the tropical Atlantic and of great transoceanic convoys.
