The bâtiments ravitailleurs de forces, or BRF, are a class of future

fleet tanker A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. T ...

s that are to replace the units in

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

service. Until January 2019, the programme was known as ''Flotte logistique'' (abbreviated FLOTLOG in military parlance). First ship of the class was delivered to the French Navy in July 2023 and formally entered service in November 2024. The ships are part of the programme.

History

Replacement for the type has been considered by the

since 2009, with the military procurement law for years 2009–2014. At the time, the concept was knows as "''flotte logistique''" ("logistical fleet", or FLOTLOG). The succession was envisioned to take place between 2017 and 2020. The replacement was motivated both by the age of the ''Durance'' hulls, and by their non-conformity with current safety standards, notably the lack of a

double hull A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is some di ...

. From 2010,

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

(then still named DCNS) proposed a project named BRAVE. This project was carried over to the following procurement law (2014 to 2019), delaying the order of the first unit to 2019. However, after

STX France Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire, ...

was purchased by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

, the project by Naval Group was abandoned and it was decided to base the new concept on the Italian fleet tanker , then being built by Fincantieri for the

Italian Navy The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active per ...

. The FLOTLOG programme was further confirmed in the new military procurement law. On 30 January 2019,

OCCAR The Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (French: ''Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière d'ARmement''; OCCAR) is a European intergovernmental organisation that facilitates and manages collaborative armament programmes throu ...

ordered four units from

Chantiers de l'Atlantique Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire, ...

and Naval Group for the French Navy. It is anticipated that the first two ships of the class, plus the fourth (''Gustave Zédé''), will be based at

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

while the third ship of the class (''Émile Bertin'') will be based at Brest. RAM BRF PA-Ng FDI

Construction

The four units of the class are to be constructed in

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...

, at Chantiers de l'Atlantique. The first ship was initially planned for delivery in 2022. However, that delivery date subsequently slipped by one year, to 2023. Two additional ships are scheduled for delivery in 2025 and 2027. In 2023, it was decided that a fourth ship of the class was to be delayed beyond 2030. Steel cutting for the first ship took place on 18 May 2020. A floating hull section was built at Fincantieri, Italy. The ship was launched in April 2022 and named ''Jacques Chevallier''.

Sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s began on 20 December 2022. She was formally delivered to the French Navy on 18 July 2023 to continue her sea trials. On 29 March, she carried out her first underway replenishment for the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

, having refueled the air defence frigate a few days earlier. These ships are among the largest units of the French Navy, second only to ''Charles de Gaulle''.

Description

The ships have a length of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of . They have a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of empty and at

full load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...

. They are powered by diesel-electric propulsion and have a crew of 130 with accommodations for up to 60 passengers. The vessels have capacity for of fuel. Up to four ships are scheduled to be commissioned in the French Navy as replacement for the ''Durance''-class tankers. On 18 May 2020, the navy published the names intended for the ships, which honour preeminent French naval engineers: Jacques Chevallier,

Jacques Stosskopf Jacques Camille Louis Stosskopf (27 November 1898 – 1 September 1944) was a member of the French Resistance and war hero killed by the Nazis. He held the post of deputy director of naval construction at the German-held Lorient U-boat arsenal. ...

Louis-Émile Bertin Louis-Émile Bertin (; 23 March 1840 – 22 October 1924) was a French naval engineer, one of the foremost of his time, and a proponent of the "Jeune École" philosophy of using light, but powerfully armed warships instead of large battleships. ...

and

Gustave Zédé Gustave Zédé (1825–1891) was a French naval engineer and pioneering designer of submarines. Early life He was born in Paris in February 1825. After studying at the École Polytechnique in November 1843 he qualified in 1845 as a marine engi ...

. Defensive weapons will include the Simbad-RC system firing Mistral Mk3 surface-to-air missiles (for at least the first ship in the series) and two

40CT cannon The 40CTC (''40 mm Cased Telescoped Cannon'') is a 40 mm autocannon and the central component of the Franco-British 40CTAS (''40 mm Cased Telescoped Armament System'') developed by CTA International. It is designed to fire 40mm telescoped ammuniti ...

. The first guns of the type were installed on ''Jacques Chevallier'' in February 2023. In March it was confirmed that two Simbad-RC short-range SAM/SSM systems had been installed on the ship, on a platform located behind the bridge. This was said to represent the first deployment of the Simbad-RC system variant with the French Navy.

Ships of the class

''Dates in italics constitute estimates''

Operations

In early October 2023, and still prior to her commissioning, ''Jacques Chevallier'' embarked on her first operational deployment into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The ship was expected to deploy for three months and return to Toulon by the end of the year. She ended up deploying for four months, returning to Toulon in early February 2024.

Citations

External links

* {{French Navy Vehicle Auxiliary ships of the French Navy Auxiliary replenishment ship classes Ship classes of the French Navy Proposed ships