Matrix Games Forums

Join the Matrix Team at Historicon!Recruiting Privates for Germany at War: Barbarossa 1941!Ageod takes you back to the Civil War Battle Academy iPad and PC 50 per cent off!Close Combat Last Stand Arnhem v5.60.53 update Allied Corps Walkthrough playlist and AARConflict of Heroes: Ghost Divisions Released!Pandora Beta Playthrough VideosGermany at War: Barbarossa 1941 Announced!Great Battles Medieval coming to your tablet with a 50 per cent off launch sale!		 Forums  Register  Login  Photo Gallery  Member List  Search  Calendars  FAQ 

My Profile  Inbox  Address Book  My Subscription  My Forums  Log Out

OT: French battleship in New York, 1971?

 
View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest
Users viewing this topic: none
  Printable Version
All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? Page: [1]
Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 1:48:19 PM   
Yaab


Posts: 345
Joined: 11/8/2011
From: Poznan, Poland
Status: offline 		Help needed to identify the French warship from the folloiwng paragraph. Time is August, 1971.

"The German withdrawal from the Bretton Woods agreement sparked panic and a currency crisis. By the end of June 1971, $22 billion in assets had left the US. Later, in July 1971, Switzerland redeemed $50 million for gold and one month later in August, pulled its Swiss Franc from the Bretton Woods agreement. At the same time, France redeemed $191 million for gold by sending a French battleship to New York to take delivery of the gold from the Federal Reserve and to bring back to France".

In 1971, France had no battleships - Jean Bart and Richelieu had been scrapped. They had cruiser Colbert though. Unfortunately, I cannot find any further infomation about this "battleship". No photograph exists either. Is it just an urban (maritime) legend? The reference to the battleship's visit pops up in many texts about the run-up to the Nixon's closing of the "gold window" in 1971.

Any help appreciated!
Post #: 1
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 2:12:57 PM   
oldman45


Posts: 2026
Joined: 5/1/2005
From: Jacksonville Fl
Status: offline 		There is a very good chance that the word battleship was incorrectly used by the author of the article. He/she is a writer who probably knows very little about navies and just used what is a more impressive word than cruiser. I see writers misnaming ships all the time.

_____________________________


(in reply to Yaab)
Post #: 2
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 2:18:50 PM   
dr.hal


Posts: 1402
Joined: 6/3/2006
Status: offline 		I think this is a clear example of a landlubber writing about something he knows nothing about. The article in question is at: http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?6128-The-Original-Dollar-Crisis-And-How-It-Led-To-Today-s-Crisis-Part-1 and is clearly an extensive work related to the gold crisis and the US stepping away from the gold standard. All very good, however as is the case in many instances, any warship can be seen as a battleship if one knows little of warships. I have repeatedly come across articles that seem to think that the General Belgrano was an Argentinian Battleship (she was the ex USS Phoenix (CL-46) of the Brooklyn class light cruisers and was present to witness the attack on Pearl Harbor). So I wouldn't put too much into the words used by the author in regards to an actual battleship... as you point out, the French didn't have one at the time.

(in reply to Yaab)
Post #: 3
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 2:24:51 PM   
Yaab


Posts: 345
Joined: 11/8/2011
From: Poznan, Poland
Status: offline 		Hmm, a battleship would have been a high-profile visit. I guess NY Times would have run a piece about it with some nice photograph. Maybe de Gaulle had just sent a destroyer or frigate?

(in reply to dr.hal)
Post #: 4
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 4:26:30 PM   
Shark7


Posts: 6348
Joined: 7/24/2007
From: The Big Nowhere
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: oldman45

There is a very good chance that the word battleship was incorrectly used by the author of the article. He/she is a writer who probably knows very little about navies and just used what is a more impressive word than cruiser. I see writers misnaming ships all the time.


Most likely. How many times have I seen on TV shows where a CA or even a CL has been referred to as a Battleship? Countless...even History Chanel shows make this common mistake.

To a person with no knowledge of naval vessels...anything large with lots of big looking guns on it must be a battleship. As opposed to those of us on this forum that can look at the same ship and say "its a cruiser", and we can usually tell somebody what class if not which exact ship.

_____________________________

aka- Akula

Larry Bond's Harpoon - Commander's Edition

Development Team Member

(in reply to oldman45)
Post #: 5
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 5:30:20 PM   
ilovestrategy


Posts: 3628
Joined: 6/11/2005
From: San Diego
Status: offline 		I wonder if they were thinking of taking the Statue of Liberty back from us.....

_____________________________

After 16 years, Civ II still has me in it's clutches LOL!!!
Now CIV IV has me in it's evil clutches!

(in reply to Shark7)
Post #: 6
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 5:37:53 PM   
Yaab


Posts: 345
Joined: 11/8/2011
From: Poznan, Poland
Status: offline 		Do you know of any tabular records of movement for French warships like the ones at combinedfleet.com? I would really like to pinpoint the ship.

(in reply to ilovestrategy)
Post #: 7
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 7:46:44 PM   
Treetop64


Posts: 723
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: 519 Redwood City, CA - BASE (Hex 218, 70)
Status: offline 		Yet another press worker writing about something they apparently know nothing about.

_____________________________



"Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it"

(in reply to Yaab)
Post #: 8
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 8:06:02 PM   
AW1Steve


Posts: 12039
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: ME-FL-NE ? "Cloud Coo-coo land"
Status: offline 		I recall the event from my childhood. Every time a certain ex-lbertarian/Republican former candiadate calls for returning to the Gold standard , this incident rushes back to my memory. I can't find the ship listed, but for some reason I was thinking it was one of Frances last cruisers , or cruiser size destroyers. I keep thinking DeGrasse (which would have been the ultimate insult , considering his immportance to the US revolution) , or perhaps Tourville of Suffren (not the current, the previous one's with their massive round RADAR domes on top of their bridges). Sorry I can't be more help, But I'll keep looking.

_____________________________

"Don't hold yourself up as an example of what community members should aspire to. You have a long history of rude behavior, and you overract to the slightest provocation."
Amoral


(in reply to Treetop64)
Post #: 9
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 8:38:39 PM   
Yaab


Posts: 345
Joined: 11/8/2011
From: Poznan, Poland
Status: offline 		Found this at http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2011/02/10/surplus-recycling-currency-unions-and-the-birth-of-the-global-minotaur/

"In August of 1971 the French government decided to make a very public statement of its annoyance at the United States’ policies: President George Pompidou ordered a destroyer to sail to New Jersey to redeem US dollars for gold held at Fort Knox, as was his right under Bretton Woods! A few days later, the British government of Edward Heath issued a similar request, though without employing the Royal Navy, demanding gold equivalent to $3 billion held by the Bank of England. Poor, luckless Pompidou and Heath: They had rushed in where angels fear to tread!".

So now it is a destroyer in New Jersey?



(in reply to AW1Steve)
Post #: 10
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 8:58:32 PM   
AW1Steve


Posts: 12039
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: ME-FL-NE ? "Cloud Coo-coo land"
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Found this at http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2011/02/10/surplus-recycling-currency-unions-and-the-birth-of-the-global-minotaur/

"In August of 1971 the French government decided to make a very public statement of its annoyance at the United States’ policies: President George Pompidou ordered a destroyer to sail to New Jersey to redeem US dollars for gold held at Fort Knox, as was his right under Bretton Woods! A few days later, the British government of Edward Heath issued a similar request, though without employing the Royal Navy, demanding gold equivalent to $3 billion held by the Bank of England. Poor, luckless Pompidou and Heath: They had rushed in where angels fear to tread!".

So now it is a destroyer in New Jersey?






Last time I looked, Ft. Knox wasn't a seaport. I'd imagine that it was easier to transport the gold by rail or truck from Ft. Knox to New Jersey , than to transport a French destroyer to Ft. Knox.

_____________________________

"Don't hold yourself up as an example of what community members should aspire to. You have a long history of rude behavior, and you overract to the slightest provocation."
Amoral


(in reply to Yaab)
Post #: 11
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 9:42:25 PM   
oldman45


Posts: 2026
Joined: 5/1/2005
From: Jacksonville Fl
Status: offline 		There is a weapons station in NJ that would be a great place for a DD to pull in and pick up gold, vs going into the busiest ports on the east coast to pick it up.

_____________________________


(in reply to AW1Steve)
Post #: 12
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 9:46:53 PM   
AW1Steve


Posts: 12039
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: ME-FL-NE ? "Cloud Coo-coo land"
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: oldman45

There is a weapons station in NJ that would be a great place for a DD to pull in and pick up gold, vs going into the busiest ports on the east coast to pick it up.



Port of call...Earle NJ! One of the USN's favorite liberty ports! NOT!

_____________________________

"Don't hold yourself up as an example of what community members should aspire to. You have a long history of rude behavior, and you overract to the slightest provocation."
Amoral


(in reply to oldman45)
Post #: 13
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 9:52:27 PM   
oldman45


Posts: 2026
Joined: 5/1/2005
From: Jacksonville Fl
Status: offline 		Spending my time as a tender puke, I only got to see places like St Thomas. ;)

_____________________________


(in reply to AW1Steve)
Post #: 14
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 9:57:01 PM   
AW1Steve


Posts: 12039
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: ME-FL-NE ? "Cloud Coo-coo land"
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: oldman45

Spending my time as a tender puke, I only got to see places like St Thomas. ;)


I love that my spouse's tender (Canopus) did that too. They she went on a 3 month "deployment" from KIngs Bay to Norfolk.

_____________________________

"Don't hold yourself up as an example of what community members should aspire to. You have a long history of rude behavior, and you overract to the slightest provocation."
Amoral


(in reply to oldman45)
Post #: 15
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 10:12:41 PM   
danlongman

 

Posts: 301
Joined: 3/27/2012
From: Over the hills and far away
Status: offline 		This is just an illustration as to why you can NEVER trust information in the popular
press no matter if they are right or left or black or white or up or down. As wargamer/history
fans we know it is wrong at first glance. Total Fail. Millions of people read that
and will believe forever that a French Battleship came to fetch gold from New York city in 1971.
My career was in aviation, weather and climate.... on the second day you stop noticing how the press mangles every aviation
story ever. Sometimes in small detail other times absolutely incredible gaffs. Do not get me started on climate stuff as it is hopeless
how little deniers understand the science. Most conspiracy theory fans are hopelessly uninformed.
Since I know little of matters legal, political, economic in the professional sense (read "with any accuracy")
I know I cannot trust anything in the mass media ever, regardless of the writer's stance.
Once the military "expert" for a local paper asked ME what a battalion was saying "you guys know that kinda stuff".
I happen to be ex-Army but WTF?
cheers

_____________________________

"Patriotism: Your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." - George Bernard Shaw

(in reply to AW1Steve)
Post #: 16
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 10:31:51 PM   
Shellshock


Posts: 193
Joined: 12/31/2010
From: U.S.
Status: offline 		My favorites are the breathless reporters who call everything from self-propelled artillery to armored personnel carriers, tanks.

(in reply to danlongman)
Post #: 17
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/9/2012 10:42:52 PM   
AW1Steve


Posts: 12039
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: ME-FL-NE ? "Cloud Coo-coo land"
Status: offline 		Or the reporters who show unfired rifle cartridges and claim that they'd been shot at them.

_____________________________

"Don't hold yourself up as an example of what community members should aspire to. You have a long history of rude behavior, and you overract to the slightest provocation."
Amoral


(in reply to Shellshock)
Post #: 18
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/10/2012 1:17:41 AM   
Misconduct


Posts: 1779
Joined: 2/18/2009
From: Cape Canaveral, Florida
Status: offline

Lets just get this out of the war, journalist arn't accurate most of the time :)

_____________________________

ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z Intel Core I7 2800k Corsair Hydro Heatsink Corsair Vengeance DD3 24GB EVGA GTX 580 Western Digital 1.5TB Raid 0 Windows 7

(in reply to AW1Steve)
Post #: 19
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/10/2012 3:00:42 AM   
AW1Steve


Posts: 12039
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: ME-FL-NE ? "Cloud Coo-coo land"
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Misconduct



Lets just get this out of the war, journalist arn't accurate most of the time :)



Most of the time?

_____________________________

"Don't hold yourself up as an example of what community members should aspire to. You have a long history of rude behavior, and you overract to the slightest provocation."
Amoral


(in reply to Misconduct)
Post #: 20
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/10/2012 4:11:23 AM   
geofflambert


Posts: 2381
Joined: 12/23/2010
From: St. Louis
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

I wonder if they were thinking of taking the Statue of Liberty back from us.....


Wow, just think, they might have melted her down to make stripper poles!

(in reply to ilovestrategy)
Post #: 21
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/10/2012 4:53:17 AM   
Chickenboy


Posts: 15255
Joined: 6/29/2002
From: Twin Cities, MN
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Misconduct



Lets just get this out of the war, journalist arn't accurate most of the time :)


Now that there's funny!

_____________________________


(in reply to Misconduct)
Post #: 22
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/10/2012 5:54:41 AM   
Commander Cody


Posts: 687
Joined: 7/4/2003
From: Seoul, Korea
Status: offline 		A few years ago there was a 737 crash in Denver. I think it skidded off the runway in snow or something. Anyway, a newspaperman buddy asked what I thought caused the accident. My answer: "Well, I've only seen AP and local paper reports, so who knows? Those are always wrong or missing key information. Once Aviation Week has a story on it, then we'll know." The guy took offense, being a serious newspaperman and all that. I had to try to ameliorate the situation by telling him journos try hard but can't know everything.

I also recently had to school a reporter friend on the difference between an F-15 and F-16, of which a mistake was made in print. "How do you tell the difference?" "Well, see this one has two engine inlets and two vertical tails. The other looks like a lawn dart." I offered up my services as a fact checker the next time he does a defense-related article.

Anyway, I think we all know that in our respective areas of expertise we see reporting errors all the time. The key is to remember they get things wrong in areas we don't have particular expertise in.

Cheers,
CC

_____________________________

Beer, because barley makes lousy bread.

(in reply to Chickenboy)
Post #: 23
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/10/2012 6:31:01 PM   
bjmorgan


Posts: 2905
Joined: 8/12/2007
From: Mosquito Bite, Texas
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Shellshock

My favorites are the breathless reporters who call everything from self-propelled artillery to armored personnel carriers, tanks.

And even wheeled armored cars.

_____________________________

Occasionally, and randomly, problems and solutions collide. The probability of these collisions is inversely related to the number of committees working on the solutions. -- Me.

(in reply to Shellshock)
Post #: 24
RE: OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? - 9/10/2012 8:46:53 PM   
CaptDave

 

Posts: 469
Joined: 6/21/2002
From: Federal Way, WA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

A few years ago there was a 737 crash in Denver. I think it skidded off the runway in snow or something. Anyway, a newspaperman buddy asked what I thought caused the accident. My answer: "Well, I've only seen AP and local paper reports, so who knows? Those are always wrong or missing key information. Once Aviation Week has a story on it, then we'll know." The guy took offense, being a serious newspaperman and all that. I had to try to ameliorate the situation by telling him journos try hard but can't know everything.

I also recently had to school a reporter friend on the difference between an F-15 and F-16, of which a mistake was made in print. "How do you tell the difference?" "Well, see this one has two engine inlets and two vertical tails. The other looks like a lawn dart." I offered up my services as a fact checker the next time he does a defense-related article.

Anyway, I think we all know that in our respective areas of expertise we see reporting errors all the time. The key is to remember they get things wrong in areas we don't have particular expertise in.

Cheers,
CC


Yep. My favorites in aviation stories are the runways that cover the entire airfield, all the way up to the gate.

(in reply to Commander Cody)
Post #: 25
Page:   [1]
All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> OT: French battleship in New York, 1971? Page: [1]
Jump to:





New Messages No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages Locked w/o New Messages
 Post New Thread
 Reply to Message
 Post New Poll
 Submit Vote
 Delete My Own Post
 Delete My Own Thread
 Rate Posts


Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI

0.332