Operations REMINER 1, 2 and 3
Three search campaigns will be organised and will focus on the point calculated by Professor ROCARD. Their failure will lead to the abandonment of the search for Minerva.
They will not reveal any further clues. As we are convinced that we are searching in the right place, the conclusion will be that Minerva remains untraceable and that it is futile to continue searching for her.
These campaigns, REMINER (MINERve REsearch) took place.
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October 1968 - REMINER 1
Led by Commander HOUOT, under the direction of the Maritime Prefect, Admiral de SCITIVAUX de GREICHE, it will allow various suspicious points to be investigated without success.
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July 1969 - REMINER 2
Professor ROCARD's calculations, much to his anger, were reworked by Professor BROUSSE of the Institute of Global Physics. Underwater explosion tests were conducted, yielding the same results.
The new search campaign, still with Commander HOUOT under the orders of Admiral de SCITIVAUX de GREICHE, yielded no more results.
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April 1970 - REMINER 3
On March 4, 1970, the submarine Eurydice, sister ship of the Minerve, the very one on board which General de GAULLE had also gone under.
Professor ROCARD's calculations allowed the wreck to be quickly located. If he was right about the Eurydice, this proves that he was most certainly right about the Minerve.
Admiral Philippe de Scivaux
Commander Georges Houot
Map of diving points for research
hydrographic vessel "La Recherche" which is carrying out the REMINER 2 mission
The MIZAR, a specialised search vessel from the United States in the mid-1960s which found the Eurydice before searching unsuccessfully for the Minerve.