Llandevennec ship graveyard in Brittany, France
Image details
Contributor:
David Jones / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
BDHE5PFile size:
60.2 MB (3.2 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
5616 x 3744 px | 47.5 x 31.7 cm | 18.7 x 12.5 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
10 August 2009Location:
Landevennec, Finistere, Brittany, France, EuropeMore information:
This bend of the River Aulne is used by the French Navy (Marine Nationale) for storing decommissioned or mothballed ships. A naval station was first set up here around 1840 to house reserve fleet vessels and their crews (totalling nearly 200 sailors), and it was visited by Napoleon III and empress Eugénie during their August 1858 trip into Brittany. During the Second World War the base was used by the German occupiers such as the school ship Armorique (sabotaged in August 1944). Post-war, the ship moved from a base for reserve ships kept in readiness to disarmed naval ships left here for other purposes. Other disarmed French ships have been used as breakwaters before the château de Brest or as training ships off the naval school at Lanvéoc-Poulmic, but those at Landévennec await demolition or use for target practice in naval exercises at sea.