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Re: SM Gendrot, Flottille 1F, Arromanches, April 1952
Hallo again Franklin
Sorry it took so long, but my friend has some serious personal issues to attend to. Here is his answer in full
No, aircraft carriers were not subordinate to GPAEO, and GPAEO itself was not subordinate to any unit, being only a major command of naval aviation. It was just a convenient name, first mentioned in 1948, as Groupe des porte-avions et de l’Aviation Embarquée, with the single Arromanches (former HMS Colossus) arriving in Indochina in November of that same year (but the destroyer escort was part of the GPAE). Admiral Barjot had been promoted to this charge on 22 October 1948. I would suggest that it was rather something modelled on the Task Forces they had created during WW II in the U.S. Navy. The explanation is quite simple : the aircraft-carrier is a ship, so is strictly French Navy, whereas the squadrons with aircraft are Naval Aviation. Naval Aviation, whether land-based or shipboard, was headed (1952-1997) by the Service central de l’Aéronautique navale (being simply Aéronautique navale, for the period 1943-1952). And shipboard aviation was under a Rear-admiral head of Groupe des porte-avions et aviation embarquée. Therefore, while on ops, it was convenient to put into a single organization both the ship and the shipboard squadrons. But in 1955, the CO of La Fayette, Naval Captain Ponchardier was both the skipper of the carrier AND head of GPAEO. Convenience always prevailed.
No, the notion of air group as with the U.S. Navy never existed as such in the French Navy. For instance, in May 1954, when the two aircraft carriers were switched off Indochina, one returning to France, the full aviation complement of Bois-Belleau simply moved from one deck to the other (La Fayette).
And no, there is no “prefix” for french naval ships unlike the traditional USS or HMS. I think but I am not sure, there was a subtle difference for rare coexistence of similar names, a Normandie belonging to the merchant navy being feminine, a Normandie being a naval unit being masculine
Cheers
Stig
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