French ship Francis Garnier (L9031)

The BATRAL ("Light ferry ship") Francis Garnier (L9031) is the second of a series of five vessels. She was launched on 17 November 1973 and commissioned on 24 October 1974. She is the fifth vessel of the French Navy named in honour of the officer and explorer Francis Garnier.

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Francis Garnier.
BATRAL Francis Garnier
History
France
Name: Francis Garnier
Namesake: Francis Garnier
Laid down: 1973
Launched: 17 November 1973
Commissioned: 21 June 1974
Decommissioned: 16 February 2011
Homeport:
Identification: L9031
Fate: Decommissioned 16 February 2011
General characteristics
Class and type: BATRAL
Displacement:
  • 770 t
  • 1330 t fully loaded
Length: 80 m (262 ft 6 in)
Beam: 13 m (42 ft 8 in)
Draught: 3 m (9 ft 10 in)
Propulsion: 2 diesel SACM Wärtsilä UD 33 V12 M4, 3600 hp (2650 kW), 2 4-bladed propellers
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h)
Range: 4,500 nautical miles (8,330 km) at 13 knots (24 km/h)
Endurance:
  • 15 days without passengers
  • 10 days with passengers
Boats & landing
craft carried:
Capacity:
  • 2 × 138-man rooms
  • 12 vehicles
Complement:
  • 3 officers
  • 15 petty officers
  • 26 quarter-masters
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • 1 DECCA 1226 navigation radar
  • Inmarsat system
Armament:
  • 2 × 40 mm anti-air guns
  • 2 × 12.7 mm machine guns
  • 2 × 81mm mortars
Aircraft carried: landing point of a 6-tonne helicopter

The BATRAL vessels are able to ferry over 400 tons of matériel, in the hangar and on the deck. Loading and unloading can be done from a harbour or from a beach. Two flat-bottom vessels allow unloading 50 men and light vehicles each. The accommodations are designed for a Guépard-type intervention unit (5 officers, 15 petty officers and 118 men), or for typical company-sized armoured units.

A helicopter landing deck allows landing for light helicopters, and transfer from and to heavy helicopters.

She is based in Fort Saint Louis in Martinique. She has been used for humanitarian relief for thirty years, intervening on hurricane and tempest scenes in the Caraibs and Guyana. She is also part in the force projection system for interarm and internal operations, notably being engaged with the aeronaval group of Charles de Gaulle during Opération Héracles, the French naval component of the invasion of Afghanistan.

Francis Garnier was ordered to assist the humanitarian efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake as part of Opération Séisme Haiti 2010. She left Martinique carrying 60 Army personnel, land vehicles and excavators; and various relief shipments.[1]

References
  1. Haïti: un navire français en route (in French), Le Figaro (15 January 2010), Retrieved on 16 January 2010.
  • (in French)
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