French Navy – Frigates

French Navy Frigates

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Aquitaine Class LOA 466′ TDISP 6,000 tons (6 active, 2 building)

Frégate_Aquitaine_1
Aquitaine D-650, Bordeaux, 2013 Credit: Matubu [CC BY-SA 3.0]
Auvergne D-654 (2018)Auvergne Toulon 2016

La Fayette Class LOA 410′ TDISP 3,600 tons (5 active with French Navy, 15 active with navies of Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore)

FS_La_Fayette_2
La Fayette F-710 sailing up the Seine River in July 2003 Credit: Guillaume Rueda Courtesy of http://www.netmarine.net [CC BY-SA 3.0]
La Fayette Class FF Toulon 2015

Georges Leygues Class LOA 456′ TDISP 4,500 tons (7, 5 retired)

George Leygues class FF
Georges Leygues D-640 during Operation Southern Watch, 1992 NARA: 330-CFD-DN-ST-93-00458 PHAN (Ac) April Hatton

Georges Leygues class Lanveoc 2018

Tourville Class LOA 501′ TDISP 6,100 tons (3, all retired)

Tourville Class FF
Tourville D-610 during International Naval Review, 1986 NARA: 330-CFD-DN-ST-87-01255 Emmett Francois

Duguay-Trouin D-611 (1975 – 1999) long in use as breakwater at Lanveoc-PoulmicDuguay Trouin Lanveoc 2018

Tourville class Lanveoc 2018
This is another Tourville class that arrived near the Naval Academy at Lanveoc-Poulmic recently. Unlike Duguay-Trouin, it still has turrets.

Aconit D-609 type F-65 unique frigate LOA 417′ TDISP 3,800 tons (1973 – 1997) breakwater at Lanveoc-Poulmic for years, now in Landevennec inactive ship facility

Aconit_frigate_model
Model of Aconit F-703 on display at the Musée national de la Marine [CC BY-SA 3.0]
Aconit and Tourville Landevennec 2018Aconit Lanveoc 2013

Comandant Rivière class LOA 338′ TDISP 2,300 tons (9 built, French service 1962-1992, 3 sold to Uruguay, all out of service) class is very similar to the French-built Portuguese João Belo class. Two of those ships mostly replaced the 3 ex-French Navy ships.

Comandant RiviereAviso-escorteurdetail
Plan of Comandant Rivière frigate early in career, before Exocet missile launchers were fitted in place of the “X” gun position 3.9″ gun. Credit: Rama / CC BY-SA 2.0 FR
Comandant Riviere frigate Montivedeo 2015
Note very similar ex-Portuguese João Belo class above. The major difference is the ex-French ships have the very large ASW mortar (looking like a turret in “B” position) forward of the bridge, whereas the ex-Portuguese ships never had this feature.
Commandant_Bourdais
Comandant Bourdais F-740, ca. 1989, on the Seine. Credit: Guillaume Rueda, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Commandant Rivière class frigate Landevennec 2014Commandant Rivière class frigate Landevennec 2012Comandant Rivière F-733 (1962-1992) converted to a sonar test ship 1984-85. Breakwater at Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer until 2009. Scrapped 2015.

Épaves_st_mandrier
Former Comandant Rivière F-733 as a breakwater, Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer. Credit: KoS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Commandant Rivière Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer 2002

Landévennec_detailofComandantRivieraFF
Landévennec [Detail of] showing the Comandant Rivière class frigate laid up,ca. 2010 Credit: Loïc LLH (Loïc Lehuen), CC BY-SA 3.0 
Floréal Class Light Frigates LOA 307′ TDISP 3,000 tons. Service 1992 – present, (intended for patrol of far-flung overseas territories) (6 units active, 2 units also built for Morocco)

050405-N-3557N-174
Moroccan Navy Floreal-class frigate Muhammed V during 2005 operations with the US Navy. US Navy Official 050405-N-3557N-174 Airman Christopher J. Newsome

Floreal Class light FF Martinique 2019Floreal Class light FF Morocco 2015

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