''Dixmude'' (L9015) is an

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (and, as ...

, a type of

helicopter carrier A helicopter carrier is a type of aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters, and has a large flight deck that occupies a substantial part of the deck, which can extend the full length of the ship like of the Royal Navy ( ...

, 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 ...

. She is the third vessel to bear the name, and is the third ship of the . ''Dixmude'' was delivered to the French defence procurement agency on 3 January 2012, three months ahead of schedule.

Service history

In January 2013, ''Dixmude'' took part in

Operation Serval Operation Serval (french: Opération Serval) was a French military operation in Mali. The aim of the operation was to oust Islamic militants from the north of Mali, who had begun a push into the center of Mali. Operation Serval followed the ...

, ferrying elements of the 92^ème Régiment d'Infanterie to Mali. In April 2016, it was announced she would be part of the Anglo-French military exercise CJEX. In July 2018, the ship docked in Haifa port, Israel for a joint exercise with the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy ( he, חיל הים הישראלי, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'' (English: The Israeli Sea Corps); ar, البحرية الإسرائيلية) is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in ...

. In April 2020, the ship operated as part of a joint

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, French and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

naval task force in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, in overseas territories in the Caribbean. RFA was also present as the UK's commitment to supporting British Overseas Territories along with HMS ''Medway'' as the Caribbean guard ship. In February 2023, ''Dixmude'' was tasked to initiate an around the world deployment accompanied by the frigate . The deployment was to involve a series of exercises and port calls en route, including at several French overseas territories. For the deployment, ''Dixmude'' embarked one of the new EDA-S landing craft, along with one EDA-R and one CTM landing craft.

Service history

References

Further reading