French ship Siroco (L9012)
Siroco at Toulon
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France
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| Name: | Siroco |
| Namesake: | Sirocco |
| Builder: | DCN, Brest |
| Laid down: | 9 October 1995 |
| Launched: | 14 December 1996 |
| Commissioned: | 21 December 1998 |
| Decommissioned: | July 2015 |
| Homeport: | Toulon |
| Identification: | L 9012 |
| Status: | Sold to Brazilian Navy, August 2015 |
 Brazil
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| Name: | Bahia |
| Acquired: | 7 August 2015 |
| Commissioned: | 17 December 2015 |
| Identification: | G40 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Foudre-class landing platform dock |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 168 m (551 ft) |
| Beam: | 23.5 m (77 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.2 m (17 ft) |
| Installed power: | 20,800 hp (15,500 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
| Range: | 20,300 km (11,000 nmi; 12,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
8 landing crafts |
| Capacity: | 150-man command headquarters |
| Troops: | 450 (900 for a short cruise) |
| Crew: |
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| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 4 helicopters EC-725 and SH-60 Seahawk (In Brazilian Navy) |
| Aviation facilities: | Hangar |
The French ship Siroco (L9012) was a Foudre-class landing platform dock of the Marine Nationale. The vessel was purchased by Brazil in August 2015, being transferred to the Brazilian Navy as the multipurpose amphibious ship Bahia (G40).
Siroco was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce from 10 October to 25 November 1999.
She served during Opération Baliste during the 2006 Lebanon War. The vessel operated as part of Opération Séisme Haiti 2010 after the 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake relief effort.
In December 2013 Siroco was serving as the flagship of European Union Naval Force Somalia.
Siroco was to be decommissioned as stated in the 2013 French White Paper on Defence and National Security. The decision was confirmed in October 2014. In July 2015, the ship was decommissioned in French service.
In December 2014 the Brazilian Navy showed interest in the ship and sent a team to evaluate her. According to the analysis, the ship was in good general condition and recommended purchase.
The Portuguese Navy also showed interest in the ship, during joint naval exercises with the French Navy, in March 2015. However, when the acquisition process of Siroco was already at an advanced stage, the Minister of Defense of Portugal signed an renunciation order cancelling the process on 30 July 2015. The renunciation was justified by the identification of several incompatibilities between the ship and other hardware in use by Portugal, including its inability to support the operation of the Portuguese EH101 helicopters.
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Wikipedia