''Commandant Birot'' (F796) is a in 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 ...

Design

Armed by a crew of 90 sailors, these vessels have the reputation of being among the most difficult in bad weather. Their high windage makes them particularly sensitive to pitch and roll as soon as the sea is formed. Their armament, consequent for a vessel of this tonnage, allows them to manage a large spectrum of missions. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, they were primarily used to patrol the continental shelf of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

in search of Soviet Navy submarines. Due to the poor performance of the hull sonar, as soon as an echo appeared, the reinforcement of an ASM frigate was necessary to chase it using its towed

variable depth sonar A towed array sonar is a system of hydrophones towed behind a submarine or a surface ship on a cable. Trailing the hydrophones behind the vessel, on a cable that can be kilometers long, keeps the array's sensors away from the ship's own noise sour ...

. Their role as patrollers now consists mainly of patrols and assistance missions, as well as participation in UN missions (blockades, flag checks) or similar marine policing tasks (fight against drugs, extraction of nationals, fisheries control, etc.). The mer-mer 38 or mer-mer 40 missiles have been landed, but they carry several machine guns and machine guns, more suited to their new missions. Its construction cost was estimated at 270,000,000

French francs The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...

Construction and career

''Commandant Ducuing'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 23 March 1981 at

Arsenal de Lorient Naval Group is a major French industrial Corporate group, group specialized in navy, naval defense industry, defense design, development and shipbuilding, construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris. Heir to the French naval dockyards i ...

, Lorient. Launched on 22 May 1982 and commissioned on 14 March 1984. On 13 January 2014, the ship was cited to the order of the division for having distinguished himself in the conduct and successful boarding of the Luna S, a vessel filled with cannabis arrested off the coast of

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. September 8 to 13, 2013. In May 2015, she participated in

Operation Triton Operation Triton was an operation conducted by Frontex, the European Union's border security agency. The operation, under Italian control, began on 1 November 2014 and ended on 1 February 2018 when it was replaced by Operation Themis. It involve ...

. She collects 217 castaways on May 2. She saved 297 migrants on May 20, 2015. On May 23, 2019, she participated, with the patroller Jean-François Deniau, in the seizure of 7.4 tonnes of cannabis as part of a joint operation between the Customs and the Navy off the coast of France. In November / December 2019, it patrols the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

and carries out military diplomacy and intelligence missions. In 2022, it was indicated that the ship would be equipped with the SMDM (navy mini-drone system) to enhance her surveillance capabilities. She is scheduled to be withdrawn from service in 2025 and be replaced by one of a new class of ocean-going Patrol Vessels (the ''Patrouilleurs Océanique'').Groizeleau, Vincent (6 May 2021). "La Marine nationale va rapidement désarmer ses derniers PHM" he French Navy will quickly disarm its last PHM Mer et Marine (in French). https://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/la-marine-nationale-va-rapidement-se-separer-de-ses-derniers-phm Retrieved 15 June 2021.

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Commandant Birot Ships built in Lorient 1982 ships D'Estienne d'Orves-class avisos