TSAMTO, July 20. At the Naval Base in Toulon, an official acceptance ceremony was held at the General Directorate for Armaments (DGA) of the Ministry of the Armed Forces of France for the first (out of four ordered) integrated supply ship, (A725) "Jacques Chevalier".
This is stated in a message published on July 18 by the command of the French Navy.
According to the plan, after the transfer to the French Navy, the ship will undergo a long deployment in order to test its capabilities in various conditions, after which it will be commissioned into the fleet in 2024.
As reported by CAMTO, on January 30, 2019, the European Organization for Cooperation in the Field of armaments (Organization Conjointe de Cooperation en Matiere d'Armement – OCCAR), on behalf of the Directorate General for Armaments, concluded a contract with a consortium of companies Chantiers de l'Atlantique and Naval Group for the construction of four integrated supply ships for the French Navy. The cost of the agreement was 1.7 billion. euro.
The new double-hulled ships will replace the single-hulled tanker tankers of the French Navy, adopted in the 1970s and 1980s. They will be used to supply fleet ships (aircraft carriers, DVKD, frigates) with fuel, ammunition, spare parts, fresh water and food at sea.
The French ships are being built on the basis of an adapted project of the Vulcano support ship, which was supplied by Fincantieri to the Italian Navy. The ships will be named "Jacques Chevalier", "Jacques Stosskopf", "Emile Bertin" and "Gustave Zede", and will be transferred to the French Navy in 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029.
Construction is being carried out at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire in cooperation with the Naval Group. Chantiers de l'Atlantique is responsible for the construction of the aft sections of all four ships, the final assembly, as well as the integration of onboard systems. Naval Group provides design, development and integration of military systems.
Under the terms of the contract, the Italian Fincantieri builds the bow sections of ships at the shipyard in Castellammare di Stabia (Italy). All "Italian" sections should be delivered to the French company in the period from 2021 to 2027.
Steel cutting for the lead ship of the series at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique company began in May 2020. Fincantieri started cutting steel in June 2020. Fincantieri handed over the bow section of the first ship, the Jacques Chevalier, to Chantiers de l'Atlantique in November 2021. The laying of the ship's keel took place at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire on December 24, 2021, launching on April 29, 2022. Sea trials of the vessel began at the end of January 2023, and on March 3, 2023, the flag of the French Navy was raised on board.
The construction of the second ship of the series is already underway. According to the "Law on Military Programs for 2024-2030", it will be delivered to the French Navy in 2025.
According to the contractors, the length of the ship is 194 m, the maximum width is 27.6 m, the total displacement is 31,000 tons. The vessel is equipped with a CODLAD–type GEU with a capacity of 24 MW, can reach a maximum speed of 20 knots, a range of 7000 nautical miles at a speed of 16 knots, a crew of 130 people. The ship is armed with two twin Simbad-RC SAMs with the Mistral Mk.3 and two 40-mm ZAK RAPIDFire companies Thales and KNDS, can be equipped with non-lethal weapons. If necessary, the vessel can supply electricity and drinking water to land.
