Foudre at Toulon | |
History | |
---|---|
France | |
Name | Foudre |
Namesake | Lightning |
Builder | DCN, Brest |
Laid down | 26 March 1986 |
Launched | 19 November 1988 |
Commissioned | 7 December 1990 |
Decommissioned | December 2011 |
Homeport | Toulon |
Identification | L 9011 |
Fate | Transferred to the Chilean Navy in December 2011 |
Chile | |
Name | Sargento Aldea |
Namesake | Sergeant Juan de Dios Aldea Fonseca [1] |
Acquired | 23 December 2011 |
Homeport | Valparaiso |
Identification | LSDH-91 |
Status | In active service |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Foudre-class landing platform dock |
Displacement |
|
Length | 168 m (551 ft) |
Beam | 23.5 m (77 ft) |
Draught | 5.2 m (17 ft) |
Installed power | 20,800 hp (15,500 kW) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
Range | 11,000 nautical miles; 12,600 miles (20,300 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Boats & landing craft carried | 8 landing craft |
Capacity | 150-man command headquarters |
Troops | 450 (900 for a short cruise) |
Crew |
|
Armament |
|
Aircraft carried | 4 helicopters AS-532 Cougar (Chilean Navy) |
Aviation facilities | Hangar |
Foudre was an amphibious assault ship of the Marine Nationale, the twelfth vessel to bear the name, and lead ship of the Foudre-class landing platform docks. In December 2011 the vessel was sold to the Chilean Navy and renamed Sargento Aldea.
Foudre served during the war in Yugoslavia, and was the central element of Opération Licorne in Côte d'Ivoire.
On 17 January 2009, one of Foudre's helicopters crashed off the coast of Gabon, killing eight French military personnel.
In October 2011 it was announced that Chile and France had finalized negotiations for sale of Foudre to Chile for around USD80 million. [2] She was transferred to Chile on 23 December 2011 and renamed Sargento Aldea. [1]
The French Navy, informally La Royale, is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in the world, ranking seventh in combined fleet tonnage and fifth in number of naval vessels. The French Navy is one of eight naval forces currently operating fixed-wing aircraft carriers, with its flagship Charles de Gaulle being the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier outside the United States Navy, and one of two non-American vessels to use catapults to launch aircraft.
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The Ouragan class was a series of French landing platform docks operated by the Marine Nationale. They were designated Transport de chalands de débarquement (TCD) in French service. The Ouragan class was the first series of landing platform docks designed and constructed by France. The two ships entered service in the late 1960s and both ships saw service in the Pacific Ocean as part of the French nuclear programme. They were initially intended to be replaced by the Foudre-class landing platform docks in the 1990s. However, due to delays, they were kept in service until they were replaced by the Mistral-class amphibious assault ships in the 2000s. A possible sale to Argentina fell through after concerns of asbestos arose. Both ships were taken out of service in 2007 and were scrapped in Belgium in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
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Aldea is a Spanish word meaning "hamlet". It may refer to:
Foudre may refer to one of the following ships of the French Navy:
The French ship Siroco (L9012) was a Foudre-class landing platform dock of the Marine Nationale. The vessel was purchased by Brazil in August 2015, being transferred to the Brazilian Navy as the multipurpose amphibious ship Bahia (G40).
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The Chalands de débarquement d'infanterie et de chars (CDIC) were two tank landing ships that operated in the French Navy. They were designed to operate from landing platform dock ships such as the Foudre class, or for coastal support. The two ships of the class, Rapière and Hallebarde, entered service in 1988 and 1989 respectively and were initially named CDIC 9061 and CDIC 9062 before receiving their new names in 1997. In 2011 Rapière was among a package of four ships sold to the Chilean Navy and renamed Canave.
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