French navy loses multi-million-dollar sonar at sea

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

PARIS (AFP) — The French navy made a red-faced admission that it had lost a multi-million dollar sonar navigation device after its cable ripped in stormy waters.

Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie confirmed a report in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine, and said an investigation had been launched into how the three-million-euro (3.7-million-dollars) device was mislaid.

"An inquiry is underway to determine whether a technical or a human error is at the origin of this problem," she told reporters.

Le Canard Enchaine reported that the captain of the De Grasse frigate, decided against his lieutenants' advice to try out the 10-tonne sonar in rough seas, during an exercise in the southwestern Gulf of Gascony on March 24.

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