Commandant Rivière-class Frigate

The ''Commandant Rivière'' class was a class of frigates built for the French Navy in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Labeled "'' aviso-escorteur''" (fr: "sloop-escort"), they were designed to perform the role of overseas patrol in peacetime and anti-submarine escort in wartime. This vessel class is named after the French Navy officer Henri Rivière (1827–1883).

Four similar ships were built for the Portuguese Navy as the .Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 319.

Design

The main gun armament of the ''Commandant Rivière'' class consisted of three of the new French guns, with a single turret located forward and two turrets aft.Blackman 1962, p. 88. These water-cooled automatic dual-purpose guns could fire a shell at an effective range of against surface targets and against aircraft at a rate of 60 rounds per minute.Friedman 1997, pp. 432–433. A quadruple anti-submarine mortar was fitted in 'B' position, aft of the forward gun and in front of the ship's superstructure, capable of firing a depth charge to or in the shore bombardment role, a projectile to .Grove 1990, p. 55. Two triple torpedo tubes were fitted for anti-submarine torpedoes, while the ship's armament was completed by two Hotchkiss HS-30 cannon. The ships had accommodation for an 80-man commando detachment with two fast landing boats, each capable of landing 25 personnel.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 118.

While the previous French frigates of the and classes were powered by steam turbines,Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, pp. 116–117. because a long-range was required for the overseas colonial role of the ships, the class was instead fitted with a two-shaft diesel powerplant, capable of propelling the ship at a speed of , although was reached during trials.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, pp. 117–118.Prézelin and Baker 1990, p. 158.

Two ships of the class were fitted with modified power plants. ''Commandment Bory'' was powered by free-piston engines driving gas turbines, although it was refitted with a conventional diesel installation in 1974–1975, while ''Balny'' was fitted with an experimental CODAG (combined diesel and gas) installation, with a and two diesel engines driving a single shaft. The CODAG arrangement took up less space, allowing 100 tons more fuel to be carried and giving a range of at . ''Balny'' omitted one 100 mm gun turret to accommodate the revised machinery.Prézelin and Baker 1990, p. 157.

Operational history

The first ship to have been commissioned, but the second in her class, after ''Commandant Rivière'', the prototype and lead ship of the series, was ''Victor Schœlcher'', which entered service in October 1962, with all but one of the class following in the next 27 months. The exception was the CODAG powered ''Balny'', which although launched in 1962 and completed in 1964, did not commission until 1970, being employed as a trials ship in the meantime.

''Commandant Bourdais'' was used for fishery protection in the North Atlantic from 1963 to 1972,Blackman 1971, p. 115. while several of the ships of the class were used as training ships, including ''Victor Schœlcher'' (1961–1973) and ''Commandant Bourdais''. In the 1970s, all except ''Balny'' had one 100 mm turret replaced by four MM 38 Exocet anti-ship missile launchers, while several of the ships had their 30 mm cannon replaced by Bofors guns.

In 1984–1985, ''Commandant Rivière'' was converted to a sonar-trials ship. The ship's armament was replaced by a single 40 mm Bofors gun and two machine guns, while the ship's stern was rebuilt to accommodate a hoist for a variable depth sonar, which was used to test various active and passive towed array sonars.Prézelin and Baker 1990, p. 167.

All French units were decommissioned in the early 1990s, save for three frigates that were sold to the Uruguayan Navy.

Ships

All French ships were built by Arsenal de Lorient

See also

* List of Escorteurs of the French Navy

Notes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Commandant Riviere-class frigate
Frigate classes
Cold War frigates of France

Ship classes of the French Navy