''Latouche-Tréville'' was a F70 type anti-submarine

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

of the French Navy '' (Marine Nationale)''. The French Navy does not use the term "

" for its ships. Thus, some large ships, referred to as "frégates" in French, are registered as destroyers. And additionally, some minor ships, referred to as "avisos" in French, are registered as frigates. She was the third French vessel named after the 18-19th century politician and admiral

Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville Vice-Admiral Louis-René Madelaine Le Vassor, comte de Latouche-Tréville (; 3 June 1745 – 19 August 1804) was a French Navy officer and politician who served in the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. ...

Service history

In November 2006 and again in June 2010, ''Latouche-Tréville'' visited London on diplomatic duties, and was moored alongside the Second World War cruiser, . In mid 2009, she was filmed in stormy seas as part of the documentary ''

Oceans The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic/Southern, and ...

''. In late 2009, while attached to an international force of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

vessels, ''Latouche-Tréville'' visited

Portsmouth Naval Base His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is loc ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

with vessels of the Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish and Turkish navies. On 15 October 2012, the frigate was moored at

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

Docks in Scotland. On 18 April 2015, she escorted a replica of the 18th century sailing ship as it departed

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

, France on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic to

Yorktown, Virginia Yorktown is a town in York County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in Colony of Virginia, colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while ...

in the United States. ''Latouche-Tréville'' returned to Brest with the ship on 10 August. In May, ''Latouche-Tréville'' was among a dozen surface vessels and four

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s that took part in

's annual "Dynamic Mongoose"

military exercise A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver (manoeuvre), or war game is the employment of military resources in Military education and training, training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of ...

. Amid rising tensions with Russia, the two-week event in Norwegian waters saw ships under NATO command conducting a variety of anti-submarine warfare operations. On 4 June, she was moored again at Leith Docks in Scotland. On 9 January 2020, the vessel suffered damage in a storm soon after departing from Brest, and returned to port the next day with her top mast missing. The incident also destroyed an electronic warfare pod and damaged the starboard SYRACUSE system. As of 2020, with the retirement of her sister ship , ''Latouche-Tréville'' was the last vessel of her class in service. In March 2022, the frigate deployed to the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

for exercises with other NATO navies. On the deployment the ship embarked an older Alouette III helicopter. She returned to Brest in June 2022. The frigate was withdrawn from service on 1 July 2022.

References

External links

* Clip of in the documentary ''Oceans'' * Video of ship in heavy seas {{DEFAULTSORT:Latouche Treville, French frigate Georges Leygues-class frigates Frigates of France Ships built in France 1988 ships