The French navy is full of ships named after men who beat us. Don't rename HMS Agincourt

Yahoo

29-01-2025

'Vive notre ami l'ennemi', wrote a patriotic French songwriter sarcastically in the 1820s, after peace had returned and multitudes of British tourists again flocked to Paris. No need to ask who the friendly enemy was. For more than two centuries we have been peaceful neighbours and indeed allies in three major and a few minor wars. We have had two 'ententes cordiales' – one was clearly not enough – and now have a close defence relationship. Yet there has always remained a certain sensitivity on both sides of the Channel. One highly-strung 19th century visitor to London got annoyed after his cab drove him from Waterloo Station via Waterloo Bridge and Waterloo Square to the Waterloo Hotel: he gave the cabby a good thrashing.
Perhaps someone in Whitehall received a verbal thrashing from our French friends when they discovered that the latest Astute Class submarine was to be named HMS Agincourt, adding insult to the injury of the Aukus pact which so upset M Macron. Or could it be that the French didn't care what we called the submarine, and that the person in Whitehall was simply showing a reflex desire to apologise?
The French are not so meek. After all, their navy's glorious traditions are based above all on its battles against perfidious Albion. At least six of its major warships today bear the names of men who fought against us, and sometimes fought dirty. The frigate Surcouf is named after Robert Surcouf, a highly successful slave trader (whoops!) and privateer who made a fortune attacking British merchantmen. The submarine Duguay-Trouin honours René Trouin, Sieur du Gué, another privateer and occasional slave trader who preyed successfully on English and Scottish merchantmen and captured several Royal Navy warships, for which he was ennobled and rose to be an admiral. The submarine Suffren honours Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez, bailli de Suffren (the French navy, with its notably aristocratic tradition, has many heroes with splendid names). He fought the British to a standstill in the Indian Ocean. The frigate La Fayette is named after the famous Marie-Joseph Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, who helped the Americans rebel in 1776. The submarine Tourville commemorates Anne-Hilarion de Costentin, Comte de Tourville, who inflicted a serious defeat at Beachy Head in 1690, when he captured or sank seven ships. The destroyer Forbin recalls Claude, comte de Forbin-Gardanne, who sank or captured many British ships, and also helped Bonny Prince Charlie to invade in 1745. The frigate Chevalier Paul honours Jean-Paul de Saumeur, whose many exploits include sinking a British ship that had failed to salute the French flag (nearly all the crew drowned). Until it retired recently, the submarine Casabianca commemorated Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca, a French Revolution politician and later naval officer under Napoleon, killed by Nelson's fleet at the Battle of the Nile when his ship blew up. His young son, who also died, was the hero of the poem that begins 'The boy stood on the burning deck …'
Given the pride shown by 'la Royale' in its glorious history of bashing the Brits and being bashed in return, I would be surprised if it had been upset by our calling a submarine Agincourt. After all, we already have HMS Iron Duke.
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