Naval Visits – FS LOIRE A 602 – BFT Season 2019 – Malta Movements

FS LOIRE A 602 is the first French Navy Offshore Support and Assistance Vessel. She’s the 17th ship to be named as LOIRE, after the longest river in France.

The ship was built by KERSHIP, a joint venture between DCNS (French state owned shipbuilders) and Piriou for the building of the Offshore Support and Assistance Vessels (BSAH). Named after the French River like her sisters RHONE, SEINE and GARONNE, the BSAH vessels will be used for rescue missions, environmental protection and general support for other naval units. French DGA (Defence Procurement Agency) awarded a contract for the construction of first two vessels to KERSHIP in September 2015. A year later, DGA ordered further two vessels to be constructed with delivery set for 2019.

With dimensions of 70 m long with 16 m beam with a maximum draught of 5m, FS LOIRE has a displacement of 2,960 tons and have a bollard pull capacity of 80 tons. She has 2 engines of 4,000 HP each with 2 propellers and 2 propellers and DP Class 1. Cruising speed is 12 knots with maximum speed of 14 knots and have an autonomy of about 30 days of operation without refuelling.

FS LOIRE is equipped with an 8 meter working boat and semi rigid boats as well as a crane of 21 tons allowing the embarkation and disembarkation of containers which can take as much as 5 units of 20 feet each. She’s capable of accommodating divers, transport weapons and ammunition, providing support to a nuclear powered submarines during stopover of which she has 2 fenders of 5 tons each and deploying an anti-pollution barrier.

Her compliment is 17 crew including 2 female (one of them the cook) and only 2 officers – Commanding Officer and Executive Officer (XO). During this particular mission – BFT (BlueFin Tuna) she will have 29 people onboard including 4 female , all ICCAT ( International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna ). She has 32 beds and only 1 cook.