D'Entrecasteaux-class patrol ship
The D'Entrecasteaux class is a class of oceanic patrol ships of the French Navy. The ship's designation is Bâtiment multi-mission (B2M) in French, meaning "multi-mission ship", and sometimes dubbed the "Swiss Army knife of the Navy". The ship is designed to perform sovereignty, law enforcement and logistics missions (such as policing illegal fishing, offshore traffic and resource mining, assisting distressed ships, search and rescue, and contributing to the logistics of Overseas collectivities and departments.). The class replaced the aging BATRAL-class landing ships in some of these roles. The D'Entrecasteaux-class perform similar roles in French overseas territories that the four Loire-class ships perform in Metropolitan France.
Champlain in Concarneau before her launch, in September 2016 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bâtiment multi-mission |
| Builders | Kership (DCNS-Piriou joint venture), Concarneau |
| Operators | Marine Nationale |
| Preceded by | BATRAL-class landing ship |
| Planned | 4 |
| Active | 4 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Offshore patrol vessel |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 65 m (213 ft 3 in) |
| Beam | 14 m (45 ft 11 in) |
| Draught | 4.20 m (13 ft 9 in) |
| Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Troops | 20 |
| Complement | 20 |
| Armament | 2 x 7.62 mm guns |
| Notes | 12-tonne crane |
Three units were initially planned, but a fourth one was ordered in early 2015, to cover the Mozambique Channel. The French Navy's first Bâtiment multi-mission (B2M) ship, d'Entrecasteaux, was delivered at the end of March 2016. The B2M vessels can be armed with two 12.7x99 mm (.50 cal.) machine guns.