ARA ''Bouchard'' (formerly ''L'Adroit'') is a

patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and they ...

designed by the French company DCNS for maritime protection missions. She was originally part of the ''Gowind'' family of corvettes and patrol vessels but the less military members of the family like ''Bouchard'' have been moved into the

Kership The Kership class is a range of steel monohull offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) built by Kership, a joint venture of French civil shipbuilder Piriou (55%) and Naval shipbuilder DCNS (45%). History The ships were originally part of the but aft ...

consortium. The design was self-funded by DCNS without an initial customer, and was initially leased to the French Navy as ''L'Adroit'' before being sold to the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; ). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Argentine Army, Army and the Argentine ...

in November 2018. The vessel was commissioned as ARA ''Bouchard'' in December 2019.

Design

''Bouchard'' has a 360° panoramic bridge and an integrated mast. The minimal superstructure of the ship leaves a substantial space available for air operations (helicopters, UAVs) and for launch and recovery of surface assets (RHIBs or USVs). ''Bouchard''s missions are managed by a combat system, which supplies essential detailed information on the ship’s environment, acquired by various detectors, deployed sensors and other ships integrated into the surveillance network. The mission system can also include a maritime surveillance system capable of detecting suspicious course profiles automatically. The vessel is capable of a variety of missions usually associated with offshore patrol of economic zones.

History

Placed at the disposal of the

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 ...

by DCNS for a period of three years, ''L'Adroit'' sailed from her home base on France's

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast in May 2012 to conduct her first fishery policing and maritime security mission, including deployment for Operation Thon Rouge, monitoring fishing vessels with

red tuna Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

quotas for 2012.

Argentine service

''L'Adroit'' was sold to the

in November 2018, and was commissioned as ARA ''Bouchard'' in December 2019. She is home based at

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

naval base.

References

External links

Logbook dedicated to L'Adroit

L'Adroit at DCNS

Launching of L'Adroit

Naval Group reprend possession de L'Adroit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchard Patrol vessels of the Argentine Navy Patrol vessels of the French Navy 2011 ships Ships built in France

Design

History

Argentine service

See also

References

External links