French armoured cruiser Waldeck-Rousseau Off Constantinople, Turkey, on 16 December 1922, photographed from USS Bainbridge (DD-246). On that day, survivors of the French transport Vinh-Long, which had burned in the sea of Marmora that morning, were transferred from the Bainbridge to the Waldeck Rousseau. Donation of Frank A. Downey, 1973. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
The armoured cruiser Waldeck-Rousseau fought submarines and airplanes during WWI, remained in the service of the French Navy until it was decommissioned in 1932 and sent to Indochina. During WWII it was used as a decoy in the Solomon Islands, and sank in 1943 in the Battle of Kolombangara.
Jean Chretien once said that a politician's career always ends in defeat; fighting ships go on and on, in war after war, engagement after engagement, and then they sink.
We are a long way from Jean Jacques Rousseau on Monday.