# France shows off new, roomy amphib



## Blackadder1916 (31 May 2007)

*France shows off new, roomy amphib*
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/defense_french_amphib_070531/

By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer  Posted : Thursday May 31, 2007 9:59:56 EDT
   
NORFOLK, Va. — The French Navy’s new 21,500-ton amphibious ship Tonnerre towered over the pier at this sprawling naval base, just as high as the 40,000-ton U.S. Navy assault ships tied up at piers on either side. But on coming aboard, a visitor is struck by something just not found inside the nearly twice-as-large American ships: space.

The Tonnerre, second of France’s two Mistral-class Force Projection and Command (BPC) ships, is nearly as roomy as a cruise ship. Wide passageways with high overheads, large stairwells and spacious accommodations permeate the ship’s interior, in stark contrast to the crowded passageways and often tight berthing on U.S. Navy ships.

The roominess might seem a waste of space to some sailors. But, said Cmdr. Bernard Longépé, chief architect of the BPC program at the French procurement agency Délégation Générale pour L’Armement, the extra room has distinctly military applications.

“The ship was designed with major input from naval operators and the Army,” he said. Chief among the Army needs were room to carry equipment, and wide, clear corridors.

Tonnerre and Mistral are designed to carry 450 fully equipped troops, along with as many as 16 helicopters, four mechanized landing craft or two landing craft air cushions and a variety of military vehicles and tanks. Unlike U.S. assault ships, the French ships do not carry a wide range of sensors and cannot operate fixed-wing aircraft such as AV-8 Harriers.

But the highly automated Mistrals are a great advance over their predecessor amphibs, the 12,400-ton Foudre and Siroco. Designed to function as people carriers as much as amphibious transports, the Mistrals have a crew of only 167 sailors, down from 235 in the Siroco. More than 700 people can be accommodated in an evacuation situation, and a capacious joint command center comes with 200 plug-and-play workstations.

Longépé said that a major goal of the Mistral program was to reduce costs by 40 percent compared with the 11-year-old Siroco. “This ship is double the size but we got it for the cost of the Siroco,” he said, noting that France spent about 650 million euros ($875 million) for both ships.

Key to reducing cost, Longépé said, was a modular construction approach that used several shipyards to build different ship sections and the use of three major contractors:

* DCN, as prime contractor responsible for cost deadlines and performance, built the aft part of the ships, integrated the combat system and completed the vessels in Brest. More than half the after section was subcontracted to Stocznia Remontowa, Gdansk, Poland.

* Alstom Marine-Chantiers de l’Atlantique built the fore sections — including all living and most working spaces — and supplied the propulsion pods.

* Thales handled the design, the radar surveillance system and production of the communications system.

The influence of Chantiers de l’Atlantique — now owned by Aker Yards — is obvious in the living areas of the Tonnerre. The St. Nazaire shipyard has a long history building passenger ships — including the Queen Mary 2 — and the accommodations are of a high standard. All staterooms have en suite facilities, and all officers have single-berth staterooms. The largest berthing area for the crew handles four sailors, while most troops are accommodated in roomy compartments with six double racks.

A lounge also is within a short distance of all staterooms, and the crew is provided with a large game room and an equally sizeable reading room — each with projection devices, sofas, chairs and a bar.

The exposed piping and ductwork common among many warships is hidden in the forward areas behind composite-construction beige panels.

Quality of life was a major factor in the design, said the Tonnerre’s commanding officer, Capitaine de Vaisseau Philippe Hello.

“Yes, the ship is nice,” he said. “Because of that, the crew needs to work more. It’s a very high motivation.”

The small crew means the ship needs more sailors with technical skills, and only about one quarter of the crew are junior enlisted, Hello said.

“There is a lot of cross-training. It’s the same as on a submarine,” he said.

With many functions automated, the Tonnerre can get by with less than a dozen watchstanders. Hello said the ship crossed the Atlantic in April with only nine watchstanders, including three on the bridge. Crewmembers said they can sometimes feel alone while walking the ship’s wide passageways.

Because they mix skills, Hello said the ship does not have the usual pyramidal structure of rank.

“The pyramid is not a pyramid,” he said. “The key word is productivity.”

The high level of modular construction also helped reduce the building time for the ships, another key cost factor, Longépé said. He noted that construction of each ship, from start of fabrication to sea trials, took three years.

The usual six-month trials period for the Mistral was cut short last summer when the ship — yet to be formally commissioned for service — was sent to Lebanon to handle the evacuation of foreign nationals during the Israeli invasion.

The operation showed modifications were needed to the well deck, said Longépé, and other changes were made to lower-quality winches and hatches that were prematurely wearing out.

But since being commissioned Feb. 28, Tonnerre has been busy. The ship left its Toulon base April 10 for a 14-week “verification cruise” and won’t be home until July 24. After stopping in Canada, Tonnerre came here for several weeks in early May for interoperability trials, where it embarked U.S. Navy MH-53E and MH-60S helicopters and LCACs. Martinique is next, followed by calls at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Cape Town, South Africa; and Dakar, Senegal.

After a two-week period in drydock, the Tonnerre is scheduled to take part in a NATO exercise in the Adriatic, and Hello noted the ship already has a full schedule for 2008.

Mistral and Tonnerre were constructed using civilian International Maritime Organization standards in many places, along with fittings similar to those in other French ships. Supply Officer Arnaud Guigné said the ships “represent a new merger between civilian and military technology.”

Hello agreed: “It’s a merger of civilian and military technology and operations to get the best of both.”

Photos  View a gallery of images of the Tonnerre


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## GAP (31 May 2007)

Is this not what we were looking for in a BHS?


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## geo (31 May 2007)

but it's french!  >


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## Blackadder1916 (31 May 2007)

> After stopping in Canada...



The Tonnerre did a routine call in Halifax from 23 to 27 April, 2007.  Anyone on this means have an opportunity to go aboard?


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## Cdn Blackshirt (31 May 2007)

I like it....I'll take two!   ;D


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## The Rifleman (2 Jul 2007)

now THIS is a roomy amphib ship

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.00h001001005001


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## Colin Parkinson (2 Jul 2007)

Israel invasion??? ah Frenchspeak for getting pissed about having one's soldier kidnapped and civilians rocketed.

Nice looking ship though, glad they make it so it can run on a short crew. I wonder if the hovercraft is French or US, if it's French then it appears they finally gave up own their own bag design and adopted the British design used by everyone else.


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## Mike Baker (2 Jul 2007)

Nice! I hope we may be able to get one or two of these in the future.


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## Cdn Blackshirt (2 Jul 2007)

The Rifleman said:
			
		

> now THIS is a roomy amphib ship
> 
> http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.00h001001005001



No wet well which the Mistral and the new Navantia LHD's (as well as the Schelde Enforcer LHD designe) do have. 



Matthew.


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## The Rifleman (3 Jul 2007)

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.00h001001005002

like this one then?


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