French frigate Georges Leygues (D640)

For other ships of the same name, see French cruiser Georges Leygues.
History
France
Name: Georges Leygues
Namesake: Georges Leygues
Laid down: 16 September 1974
Launched: 17 December 1976
Commissioned: 10 December 1979
Decommissioned: 21 March 2014
General characteristics
Class & type: Georges Leygues-class frigate
Displacement:
  • 3,550 t (3,494 long tons)
  • 4,500 t (4,429 long tons) full load
Length: 139 m (456 ft 0 in)
Beam: 14 m (45 ft 11 in)
Height: 39.36 m (129 ft 2 in)
Draught: 5.8 m (19 ft 0 in)
Propulsion:
Speed:
  • 30 knots (35 mph; 56 km/h) on gas turbines
  • 21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h) on diesels
Range:
  • 1,000 nmi (1,900 km) at 30 kn (35 mph; 56 km/h) on gas turbines
  • 10,000 nmi (19,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) on diesels
Complement:
  • 20 officers
  • 120 non-commissioned officers
  • 95 men
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Detection:
  • 1 Air/surface sentry radar DRBV51C
  • 1 Air sentry radar DRBV 26
  • 1 Fire control radar DRBC 32E
  • 2 Navigation radar KH 1007
  • 1 Hull sonar DUBV 23
  • 1 Towed sonar DUBV 43C
  • Tactical information:
  • SENIT 4
  • SEAO/OPSMER
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
  • 2 Radar interceptors ARBR 16
  • 2 × Syllex chaff launchers
Armament:
  • Anti-air:
  • 1 × Crotale EDIR system - 8 missiles on launcher + 18 stored
  • 2 × Simbad systems - 2 × 2 Mistral missiles
  • 1 × CADAM 100 mm main gun
  • 2 × 20 mm guns
  • 4 × 12.7 mm machine guns
  • Anti-surface:
  • 4 × Exocet MM38 missiles
  • Anti-submarine:
  • 10 × L5 Mod4 torpedoes
  • 2 × L5 torpedo launchers
Aircraft carried:
  • 2 × Lynx WG13 Mk.4 helicopters, each with:
  • 1 × DUAV4 sonar
  • Rheseda system for transmission of acoustic data
  • 12 × Mark 46 torpedoes

Georges Leygues (D640) is the lead ship of the F70 type anti-submarine frigate of the French Marine Nationale. The French Navy does not use the term "destroyer" for its ships; hence some large ships, referred to as "frigates", are registered as destroyers. She is the second French vessel named after the 19–20th century politician and Navy Minister, Georges Leygues. She is the tender for the helicopter cruiser Jeanne d'Arc.

Service history

In 1981, Georges Leygues and the fleet escort Guépratte, cruising in front of an Allied fleet during training sessions, detected a Soviet submarine, which they chased for 19 hours. A rare instance of submarine warfare occurred, the Soviet submarine tried running at 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) and diving under the sonar of Georges Leygues to try to avoid detection, before she was forced to surface, being formally identified as a Victor class submarine by the on-board Lynx WG13.

The same year, Georges Leygues intervened when the Iranian ship Tabarzin was captured by a commando hostile to the new regime, and sailed to France. The commando reached France and requested political refugee status, while the ship was returned to Iran.

In 1987, France and Iran having broken off diplomatic relations, Georges Leygues escorted commercial ships in the Persian Gulf.

In 1992, Georges Leygues took part in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.

In 1999, she was partially modified to accommodate student officers, and started tending the cruiser Jeanne d'Arc in the context of the training voyages of the French Naval Academy.[1] The same year, after catastrophic flooding occurred in Mozambique the two ships were re-routed to deliver humanitarian aid.

In early 2004, after the 2004 Haitian coup d'état, Jeanne d'Arc and Georges Leygues were re-routed to assist in the French intervention there. In December the same year, the two ships intervened in Indonesia after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.[1] In 2011, the frigate took part in the evacuation of the civilians from Tunisia.[1] The ship was decommissioned on 21 March 2014.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lagneau, Laurent (31 July 2013). ""Terminé barre et machine" pour la frégate Georges Leygues" (in French). opex360.com. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "Retrait définitif du service pour la frégate Georges Leygues" (in French). ActuNautique.com. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
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