Le Ministère des armées et la demande des familles
The Ministry of the Armed Forces cannot ignore the families' request. On the one hand, it was relayed by Hubert Falco, mayor of Toulon, the town that is home to France's largest naval base, and on the other, it received extensive media coverage.
However, the Ministry is preparing to reject this incongruous request concerning a 50-year-old wreck.
Against all expectations, on 5 February 2019, it will announce an official resumption of the search.
To resume or not to resume the search?
Hubert FALCO, Mayor of Toulon, and Philippe VITTEL, Vice-President of the Conseil Général de la région PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur), have each relayed to the Ministry of the Armed Forces the families' request to resume the search for the wreck of La Minerve.
The Minister for the Armed Forces, Florence PARLY, could not ignore this, as the request was actively supported by the media, press and television.
She therefore asked the Ministry's communications department and the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Christophe PRAZUCK, to look into the matter.
According to the communications department, a resumption would represent too great a media risk in the event of failure. It would expose the Minister to criticism, which would undoubtedly multiply, criticising useless expenditure to recover an old wreck of no strategic or military interest.
He is preparing a press release in which he draws on the failure of Argentina, which for almost 1 year has been unable to find an ARA San Juan (S-42) submarine, which disappeared on 17 November 2017. Yet it is deploying considerable resources.
On his side of the navy, Admiral PRAZUCK takes a different view. He was personally consulted, 6 months earlier, for the lifting of the defence secrecy on the Minerve file. During his career, he was confronted with the pain of families when he lost men during one of his former functions. He considers that the abandonment of families by the Navy is a stain on its history. This approach by the families provides an opportunity to wash it clean.
He asked a Corvette captain, Olivier Bouzemane, to prepare a case in favour of resuming the search.
He demonstrated that a resumption of the search had a real chance of success, thanks to the technical progress made in deep-sea research since the REMINER 3 campaign in 1970.
The San Juan is found
The communications department seems to have convinced the minister. The political risk of resuming the search is too great. A press release based on the failure of the Argentinians to find their submarine was to be published.
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But on 16 November, 364 days after its disappearance, the Argentinean San Juan was found by the company Ocean Infinity and its vessel the Seabed Constructor. The arguments of those opposed to resuming the search collapsed.
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Admiral PRAZUCK took advantage of this opportunity and convinced the minister to let him resume the search.
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‘Agreed, but on your budget’, she conceded.
Preparations for a new campaign
The navy will first ensure that the chances of finding the wreck are real.
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It will first dive a robot onto the wreck of the Eurydice and other debris to check that there is no risk of the wreck being buried and covered by marine sediment, which would make it invisible or even undetectable.
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The results were encouraging, with the Eurydice looking as she did on the day she sank 49 years earlier.
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IFREMER can offer 2 slots for research, at the end of February 2019 and in the first half of July 2019.
On 5 February 2019, a press release from the French Ministry of Defence announced that the search for the wreck of La Minerve would be resumed.
The families have won their case.