Bâtiment Multimission
.jpg)
B2M Champlain in Concarneau before her launch, in september 2016
|
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Bâtiment multi-mission |
| Builders: | Kership (DCNS-Piriou joint venture), Concarneau |
| Operators: |
 Marine Nationale
|
| Preceded by: | BATRAL-class landing ship |
| Planned: | 4 |
| Active: | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Offshore patrol vessel |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 65 m (213 ft) |
| Beam: | 14 m (46 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.20 m (13.8 ft) |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Troops: | 20 |
| Complement: | 20 |
| Notes: | 12-tonne crane |
The Bâtiment multi-mission (B2M, "multi-mission ship") is a class of oceanic patrol ships of the French Navy. Dubbed the "Swiss Army knife of the Navy", the type of ships is due to perform sovereignty, law enforcement and logistics missions (such as policing illegal fishing, traffics and mining; assisting distressed ships, and search and rescue; and contributing to the logistics of Overseas collectivities) from, replacing the aging BATRAL-class landing ships in this role.
Three units were initially planned, but a fourth one was ordered in early 2015, to cover the Mozambique Channel.
The French Navy's first Bâtiment multi-mission (B2M) ship, d'Entrecasteaux, was delivered at the end of March 2016.
The B2M vessels can be armed with two 12.7x99 mm (.50 cal.) machine guns.
France holds the largest exclusive economic zones, totalling one million km² in the Indian Ocean and 1.7 million km² in the Southern Ocean. To enforce law in these areas, the French Navy has deployed a number of ships suitable for low-intensity engagements and with flexible capabilities: BATRAL-class landing ships, P400-class patrol vessels and D'Estienne d'Orves-class avisos, or Cold War design, have been deployed in this role, and stop-gap measures such as the Albatros were taken. More recently, the French Navy has procured classes of ship specifically designed for law enforcement and public service in the EEZ, such as the Floréal-class frigates.
In the 2010s, the aging of the BATRALs (Jacques Cartier, based in Nouméa, was decommissioned in April 2013) and the decommissing of Albatros in May 2015 led to the need to procure replacements for the naval stations of Port des Galets (La Réunion), Nouméa (New Caledonia), Dégrad des Cannes (Martinique) and Papeete (French Polynesia). In March 2006, the Service des Programmes Navals (SPN, "Naval Programme Service") started to study a replacement for the five BATRALs and for Albatros.
...
Wikipedia