The French ship ''Siroco'' (L9012) was a of the

Marine Nationale 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 th ...

. The vessel was purchased by Brazil in August 2015, being transferred to the

Brazilian Navy ) , colors= Blue and white , colors_label= Colors , march= "Cisne Branco" ( en, "White Swan") (same name as training ship ''Cisne Branco'' , mascot= , equipment= 1 multipurpose aircraft carrier7 submarines6 frigates2 corvettes4 amphibious warf ...

as the multipurpose amphibious ship ''Bahia'' (G40).

Service history

French service

''Siroco'' was deployed to

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

as part of the Australian-led

INTERFET The International Force East Timor (INTERFET) was a multinational non-United Nations peacemaking task force, organised and led by Australia in accordance with United Nations resolutions to address the humanitarian and security crisis that took ...

peacekeeping taskforce from 10 October to 25 November 1999. She served during Opération ''Baliste'' during the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...

. The vessel operated as part of Opération ''Séisme Haiti 2010'' after the 12 January

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

relief effort. In December 2013 ''Siroco'' was serving as the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of European Union Naval Force Somalia. ''Siroco'' was to be decommissioned as stated in the 2013 French White Paper on Defence and National Security. The decision was confirmed in October 2014. In July 2015, the ship was decommissioned in French service.

Sale

In December 2014 the Brazilian Navy showed interest in the ship and sent a team to evaluate her. According to the analysis, the ship was in good general condition and recommended purchase. Ridex2018_39_(28352301667)

The

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...

also showed interest in the ship, during joint naval exercises with 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 ...

, in March 2015. However, when the acquisition process of ''Siroco'' was already at an advanced stage, the Minister of Defense of Portugal signed an renunciation order cancelling the process on 30 July 2015. The renunciation was justified by the identification of several incompatibilities between the ship and other hardware in use by Portugal, including its inability to support the operation of the Portuguese

EH101 The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-lift helicopter in military and civil use. First flown in 1987, it was developed by a joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the United Kingdom and Agusta in Italy in response to national requirement ...

helicopters. Following the Portuguese withdrawal, on 7 August 2015, the Ministry of Defense of Brazil announced the acquisition of ''Siroco'' for the Brazilian Navy for €80 million. The deal includes landing craft, spare parts, missile launchers for the

Mistral missile The Missile Transportable Anti-aérien Léger (English: Transportable lightweight anti-air missile), commonly called Mistral, is a French infrared homing short range air defense system manufactured by MBDA France (formerly by Matra Defence and ...

, and training. The ship was renamed ''Bahia'' and given the identification number G40. Provisionally commissioned into the Brazilian Navy on 10 December 2015, the ship officially incorporated the vessel into service on 10 March 2016. To bring the ship into Brazilian service, a contract was signed with DCNS for €7.5 million.

Brazilian service

The purchase of the ship allowed an increase in the amphibious and aerial capabilities of the

, as well as contributing to the maintenance of the logistics of the

United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti ) , leader_title = Head , leader_name = Sandra Honoré (Special Representative of the Secretary-General) , status = Replaced by MINUJUSTH , formation = 1 June 2004 , websiteUN Peacekeeping: MINUSTAH

and humanitarian aid thanks to the hospital center that Bahia has. Its airborne group in Brazilian Navy is composed by 2 helicopters

Eurocopter EC725 The Eurocopter EC725 Caracal, now called Airbus Helicopters H225M, is a long-range tactical transport military helicopter developed from the Eurocopter AS532 Cougar for military use. It is a twin-engined aircraft and can carry up to 28 seated t ...

and 2

Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk The Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk (or Sea Hawk) is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family. The most significant modificatio ...

References

External links