French Naval Ship Stops Over At Lautoka
The Bâtiment (B2M), multi-mission ship a class of oceanic patrol ship of the French Navy leaves Lautoka port tomorrow following its three-day stop-over.
The Noumea-based vessel patrols French territory waters. Apart from the patrolling assignments, it also monitors fishing vessel movements and illegal engagements within their territory.
Captain Lieutenant Commander (Navy) Natthieu Ruf, 35 was joined by France ambassador Michael Djokovic, Fiji Football Association national coach Christophe Gamel France honourary counsel Claire Dianna and senior meteorology officer Amit Prasad yesterday.
“We have three days here and we hope to strengthen our relationship with your country,” Lieutenant Commander Ruf said.
“Hopefully our counterparts from here (Fiji navy) participate in the Southern Cross exercise in New Caledonia in May,” he said.
The 65-meter long ship was first activated on July 2016 in Noumea, New Caledonia with 23 crew members on board.
The vessel can carry a maximum of 30 to 35 crew members.
During any evacuation the ship holds 200 people.
The displacement itself is up to 2300 tonnes and can travel at 14 knots.
The space can carry up to six containers with the full capacity of four hundred tonnes of fuel on board. The ship can hold over 200 tonnes of backup water which is for used during times of evacuation.
The ship has a landing craft, which is used to deliver small vehicles and people. The landing craft can carry up to five tonnes or up to 15 people with materials and the crew (two seamen).
The landing craft can also be used for landing should there be no jetty, or the structure to assist the vessel in berthing.
The ship is also equipped with an anti-pollution system.
Dubbed the “Swiss Army knife of the Navy”, this type of ship is due to perform sovereignty, law enforcement and logistics missions (such as policing illegal fishing, traffics and mining; assisting distressed ships, and search and rescue.
The ship departs tomorrow for Wallis and Futuna.
