The Brest Arsenal (French - ''arsenal de Brest'') is a collection of naval and military buildings located on the banks of the river

Penfeld The Penfeld,The ''d'' was added in the 17th century by a naval engineer influenced by the German word ''feld'' - the name is masculine in the Breton language. ( Breton: ''Penfell'') is a French coastal river. The town of Brest, in Finistère, has ...

, in

Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French mi ...

. It is located at .

Timeline

*1631-1635 Beginning of the foundations of the port infrastructure. *1674 Appearance of the Powder Magazines, Cordellerie and Military Hospital. *1683 Creation of the Troulan dock. *1746 Creation of the three Pontaniou docks near the anchor forges and naval constructions. *1752 Construction of the Bagne demolished in 1947. *1807 Construction of the Bâtiment aux Lions to house the arsenal's magazines. *1822-1827 Construction of Bassin 6 at the Salou. *1858 Appropriation of the Tourville and Jean Bart quays by the navy. *1864-1865 Construction of Bassin 7 at the Salou. *1865 Closure of the Penfeld port to commercial boats, turning it into a military port. *1889-1896 Construction of the South Jetty (1 500 m). *1895-1900 Construction of the West Jetty (200 m). *1899-1902 Transformation of the four Pontaniou docks into 2 large basins, now known as Basin 2 and Basin 3. *1900-1905 South Jetty extended by 750 m. *1905 Construction of the Quai d'Armement. *1910 Installation of the Grande Grue. *1910-1916 Digging of the two construction docks and of the Laninon dry dock, now known as Basin 8 and Basin 9. *1911 Infilling of the

terreplein In fortification architecture, a terreplein or terre-plein is the top, platform, or horizontal surface of a rampart, on which cannon are placed,''Webster's International Dictionary of the English Language'', Vol 2, 1895 protected by a parapet. In ...

Brest Castle Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

. *1918 Construction of the Quai des Flottilles. *1931-1933 Closure of the western passage. *1938 Work begun on the construction of Bassin 10 de Laninon (work abandoned 1939-1945). *1940 Construction of the Submarine Base during the German occupation - the military port became an important German strategic base. *1963-1964 Jetty enlarged. *1969-1970 Construction of aircraft-carrier locks 3 and 4.

History

Quays, locks and jetties

Penfeld quays

The

, within the military enclosure, is almost wholly lined with quays, but ships cannot come directly alongside these quays because of heads of rock that are left exposed at low tide. That's why floating stages are moored fore and aft, mainly on the left bank, to make up ''postes'' where some “small” ships can come alongside and use some installations such as the large crane. Little used upstream of the

Pont de Recouvrance The Pont de Recouvrance () is a vertical-lift bridge in Brest, France, across the river Penfeld. Opened on 17 July 1954, it was the largest vertical-lift bridge in Europe until the opening of the Rouen Pont Gustave-Flaubert in 2008. It links ...

, downstream of this bridge these ''postes'' nevertheless serve the old sailing ships of the Navy, the tugboats and other support boats of the arsenal, and ''transrades'',

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

s which provide a service across the

roadstead A roadstead (or ''roads'' – the earlier form) is a body of water sheltered from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.United States Army technical manual, TM 5- ...

(''rade de Brest'') between Brest and the

Crozon Crozon (, ; br, Kraozon, , ) is a commune in the department of Finistère and the administrative region of Brittany, northwestern France. As well as the town of Crozon, the village of Morgat is part of the commune. Crozon is located on the Croz ...

peninsula (

Île Longue Île Longue ( French for "Long Island") is a peninsula of the roadstead of Brest in the department of Finistère in the Brittany region. It is the base of the SNLE, the French ballistic missile submarines, and as such one of the most secretive ...

École Navale École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

)

Armament quay and oblique quay

External links