The military port of Toulon (french: arsenal de Toulon) is the principal base of the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
and the largest naval base in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
, sited in the city of
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
. It holds most of France's
force d'action navale, comprising the aircraft carrier ''
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
'' as well as its
nuclear attack submarine
An SSN is a nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarine. ''SSN'' is the US Navy hull classification symbol for such vessels; the ''SS'' denotes a submarine and the ''N'' denotes nuclear power. The designation SSN is used for interoperabili ...
s, in total, the base contains more than 60% of the French Navy's tonnage, and about 20,000 military and civilian personnel work at the base.
The ''Rade''
![Petite_rade_Toulon_vue_de_Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Petite_rade_Toulon_vue_de_Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer.jpg)
The word ''rade'' comes from the old English term '
Road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
,' "a protected place near shore, not so enclosed as a harbour, where ships can ride at anchor.". The Rade of Toulon is one of the best natural anchorages on the Mediterranean, and the largest rade in Europe. It is protected from the sea by the
peninsula of Giens and the peninsula of
Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer
Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer (, "Saint-Mandrier on Sea"; oc, Sant Mandrier de Mar), commonly referred to simply as Saint-Mandrier (former official name), is a commune in the southeastern French department of Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. In ...
, and has been used as a military harbour since the 15th century. The Rade shelters the port of Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer, the port of
La Seyne-sur-Mer
La Seyne-sur-Mer (; "La Seyne on Sea"; oc, La Sanha), or simply La Seyne, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 62,888. La Seyne-sur-Mer, which is pa ...
, as well as the arsenal, or military port of Toulon, and the commercial port.
History
The 'modern' history of the port began when
Louis XII
Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...
built his
Tour Royale at Toulon in 1514. A naval arsenal and shipyard were built in 1599, and small sheltered harbour, the Veille Darse, was built in 1604–1610 to protect ships from the wind and sea. The shipyard was greatly enlarged by
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
, who wished to make France into a Mediterranean naval power. In 1680,
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...
, Secretary of State of the Navy and Controller of Finance of
King Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
, began building a much larger port, called the Darse Vauban or the Darse Neuve, and shipyard, designed by his commissioner of fortifications,
Vauban.
In 1697,
Vauban built the impressive corderie, a building designed to make ropes. The corderie, still standing, is 20 metres wide and 320 metres long, built so that ropes could be stretched the entire length of the building as they were twisted together. Power for the ropemaking was provided by convicts from the adjoining prison, the
Bagne de Toulon
The Bagne of Toulon was the notorious prison in Toulon, France, made famous as the place of imprisonment of the fictional Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo's novel ''Les Misérables''. It was opened in 1748 and closed in 1873.
Origins: the ...
, who walked in an enormous treadmill. A triumphal gate (now the Museum of the Navy) was added to the Arsenal in 1738.
The Arsenal port was enlarged still further in the 19th century and the 20th century. The construction of the arsenal du
Mourillon began at the start of the 18th century, as an extension of the major Toulon arsenal on the roadstead's east coast. Until the 20th century this extension held stores for the wood to build the French Navy. From the late 19th century it was this shipyard that built France's first ironclad frigates then the world's first modern submarines.
Rather than joining the Free French forces in North Africa and to avoid capture by the Germans, the French fleet based at Toulon
scuttled
Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...
itself on 27 November 1942 on the orders of the French admiralty. During the 20th century the Mourillon arsenal was mainly dedicated to submarine activity as a French submarine base until 1940, then a German one from 1940 to 1945, then a dockyard and torpedo factory after 1945. The Arsenal was badly damaged by Allied bombing in World War II, but since has been reconstructed and modernised. It has eleven drydocks for ship repair, the two largest of which are 422 metres by 40 metres. The Arsenal is still the principal military port of France, the home port of the aircraft carrier ''
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
,'' France's
attack submarine squadron, and the other ships of the French Mediterranean fleet.
The Arsenal is not open to the public, but the Naval Museum at its entrance has a collection of enormous ship models from the 18th century, used to train the heir to the throne in seamanship, as well as other naval memorabilia. The building of the Corderie can be seen beside the road nearby. Boat tours depart regularly from the waterfront, and allow visitors to have a good look at ships of the French fleet.
[for the history of the Arsenal and the Port, see Cyrille Roumagnac, ''L'Arsenal de Toulon et la Royale'' Editions Alan Sutton, 2001.]
Main infrastructures
The military base is divided into four main zones, each with their own access to the sea. From east to west these are:
*Castigneau ;
*Malbousquet ;
*Missiessy ;
*Milhaud.
The first has two main entrances :
* next to the civilian port - the main gate, adjoining the
musée de la marine whose façade, classed as a
monument historique
''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
, is the predecessor to this new gate. The new gate is located next to the arsenal's quai d'honneur and the monumental façade of the Mediterranean maritime préfecture, flanked by cannons and gilding.
* at the west entrance to Toulon town-centre - more practical than the other entrance (it is less than 200m from an autoroute exit onto four roads), it ensures freight and civil and military convoys from the base can flow freely.
The three other gates are secondary and little used, though still heavily guarded. To the extreme west in the communes of
La Seyne-sur-Mer
La Seyne-sur-Mer (; "La Seyne on Sea"; oc, La Sanha), or simply La Seyne, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 62,888. La Seyne-sur-Mer, which is pa ...
and
Ollioules
Ollioules (; oc, Oliulas) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a western suburb of Toulon.
Population
Notable people
* Christophe Castaner (born 1966), lawyer and politici ...
the military base is in contact with the commercial port of
Brégaillon, connected to national and regional networks for the supply of artillery munitions and other supplies.
The arsenal du
Mourillon, next to the roadstead, is directly accessible via the north arsenal which housed a submarine base until 1945. The south arsenal is accessed by the small slipway of
Le Mourillon
Le Mourillon is a neighbourhood to the east of the French city of Toulon, near the entrance to the ''Rade'' or roadstead. It was once a fishing village, and then became the home of many of the officers of the French fleet and to part of the nav ...
beside the now-disappeared torpedo factory.
Roads and railways
The military bases possesses more than 30 km of roads, railway level crossings, traffic lights, signs, etc.. It also has an
SNCF
The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...
rail line running from the station at
La Seyne-sur-Mer
La Seyne-sur-Mer (; "La Seyne on Sea"; oc, La Sanha), or simply La Seyne, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 62,888. La Seyne-sur-Mer, which is pa ...
to the docks via its storage sheds.
Naval installations
The naval installations of Toulon harbour are, from East to West:
; The honour quay:
Used to harbour foreign ships, or large ships. Traditionally, this quay was used to honour distinguished ships by putting them into view from the merchant harbour.
; The four dry docks and the Vauban dock:
The four dry docks are fit for repairs on medium to large craft. The Vaudan dock is used as a mooring for small ships (diver support, mine warfare, tugs, patrol boats) and elder ships.
; Missiessy quay and Malbousquet quay
Harbour the nuclear attack submarines. The quays are fitted with mobile roofs that cover the submarines when their nuclear equipment is being refitted. These quays also comprise a number of dry docks.
; Milhaud quays
The main mooring stations of the harbour, where frigates, aircraft carriers, fleet tankers and landing ships are stationed.
Land infrastructure of the base
Installations next to the base
See also
*
Fort Balaguier
Bibliography
External links
Ships based at Toulon Composition of the high command of the maritime arrondissement of Toulon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Military Port of Toulon
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
Buildings and structures in Toulon
French Navy submarine bases
1590s establishments in France
1599 establishments in Europe