French frigate Nivôse
 Frigate Nivôse | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name: | Nivôse |
| Namesake: | Month of Nivôse |
| Ordered: | 1989 |
| Builder: | Chantiers de l'Atlantique |
| Laid down: | 16 January 1991 |
| Launched: | 11 August 1991 |
| Commissioned: | 15 October 1992 |
| Homeport: | Port des Galets, La Réunion |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Floréal-class frigate |
| Displacement: | 2600 tonnes (2950 tonnes full load) |
| Length: | 93.5 m (307 ft) |
| Beam: | 14 m (46 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.4 m (14 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Range: |
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| Boats & landing craft carried: |
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| Complement: |
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| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 1 Panther helicopter |
The Nivôse is a light surveillance frigate ("frégate de surveillance") of the French Marine Nationale. She is the third ship of the Floréal class, and the fourth French vessel named after the 4th month of the Republican Calendar.
Deployments
- 2001
In October 2001, she was deployed in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.[1]
- 2008
In late 2008, under frigate captain Jean-Marc Le Quilliec,[2] Nivôse was deployed as part of a European Union expeditionary force, Operation Atalanta, in the Gulf of Aden to fight piracy off Somalia.[3]
- 2009 On 15 April 2009, she captured eleven pirates 900 km (560 mi) East of Mombasa, and thwarted an attack on the Liberian-registered merchantman Safmarine Asia.[4][5]
On 12 April 2009, Nivôse relieved her sister-ship Floréal as part of European Union Naval Force Somalia – Operation ATALANTA. On 3 May 2009, 900 km off Somalia, the crew managed to lure pirates to attack the ship by sailing into the sun to avoid being identified and mistaken for a merchantman; as the pirate closed in, she turned about and launched her on-boarded helicopter and fast outboard vessels. Eleven pirates were captured.[6][7][8]
- 2010
From 5 to 7 March 2010, joining mission forces from France, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden, Nivôse secured its "biggest seizure" so far in the vital shipping lane, with 35 pirates arrested and four mother ships seized in three days off Somalia.[9]
Fire
- On 30 September 2014, Nivôse was severely damaged by fire which broke out in her engine room. Floréal assisted in firefighting operations. Nivôse was subsequently towed in to Port de la Pointe des Galets.[10]
Photo gallery
Nivôse at Fremantle, Western Australia.
The Nivôse departing Cape Town, South Africa
Sailors at the rail of the Nivôse
Stern of the Nivôse showing her Panther helicopter
Sources and references
- ↑ Histoire et actualités de la frégate Nivôse, netmarine.net
- ↑ Piraterie : une nuit d'alerte sur le Nivôse, Le Monde, 2 December 2008
- ↑ Suspected pirates rescued in Gulf of Aden, CNN, 5 December 2008
- ↑ , BBC News, 15 April 2009
- ↑ French capture 11 suspected pirates; Greek ship freed, CNN
- ↑ Pirates seized after threatening French navy ship, CNN, 3 May 2009
- ↑ Somalie : la marine française capture onze pirates, Lemonde.fr
- ↑ Somali pirate suspects captured, BBC, 3 May 2009
- ↑ "European naval forces capture more pirates". Independent Online (South Africa). 9 Mar 2010. Retrieved 9 Mar 2010.
Six pirate action groups have been intercepted, mother ships and skiffs have been destroyed and over 40 pirates have been taken into custody
- ↑ "French Frigate Extensively Damaged by Violent Fire". World Maritime News. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- Frégate de surveillance Nivôse, netmarine.net
| French Navy | |
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 Royal Moroccan Navy |
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