French cruiser Primauget left suddenly Shanghai, China with unknown destination according to the Dutch newspaper De Locomotief dated 20 January 1939

Duguay-Trouin class light cruisers

An item dated Shanghai, China 19 January reported the immediate departure of the French cruiser Primauget with sealed orders without any warning. There should be be a cocktail party on board that evening but which was completely ignored. The French navy refused to say where she was going and also did not inform the British authorities. It was believed that she was bound for Saigon, French Indochina where at that moment the major French warships in the Far East gathered.(1) 

Note

1. Of the Duguay-Trouin class light cruisers, preceded by the never realized La Motte-Picquet class, succeeded by Jeanne d’Arc, laid down by Arsenal de Brest on 16 August 1923, launched on 21 May 1924, commissioned on 1 April 1927 and destroyed by an American naval force when lying at Casablanca, French Morocco on 8 November 1942.