| Roadstead of Lorient | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of Lorient roadstead from the southwest. | |
  Roadstead of Lorient  Roadstead of Lorient | |
| Coordinates | 47°43′52″N3°21′14″W / 47.73111°N 3.35389°W |
| Type | Roadstead |
| Basin countries |  France |
| Islands | Île Saint-Michel |
The roadstead of Lorient (French : Rade de Lorient, Breton : Lenn-von an Oriant) is a roadstead located to the west of Morbihan in Brittany, France.
The harbor of Lorient constitutes the mouths of the rivers Blavet, Scorff and the Ter in the Atlantic Ocean. It has several port facilities, including marinas but also the infrastructure of the Lorient Submarine Base. Oriented northeast-southwest, it has an island in its center, Île Saint-Michel, and communicates with the Atlantic Ocean to the south by two passes, the Passe du Sud and the Passe de l'Ouest, separated by reefs. [1] Its northern part is more specifically called the harbor of Pen-Mané while that to the south is called the harbor of Port-Louis. [2]
It is bordered to the west by the communes of Larmor-Plage, Lorient and Lanester and to the east by those of Kervignac, Locmiquélic, Port-Louis and Gâvres. [3]
More than 350 wrecks are listed in the harbor, including that of the Isère , the ship that transported the Statue of Liberty to New York. [9] [10]
Brittany is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period of Roman occupation. It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as a separate nation under the crown.
Brest is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of a peninsula and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second largest French military port after Toulon. The city is located on the western edge of continental France. With 139,456 inhabitants (2020), Brest forms Western Brittany's largest metropolitan area, ranking third behind only Nantes and Rennes in the whole of historic Brittany, and the 25th most populous city in France (2019); moreover, Brest provides services to the one million inhabitants of Western Brittany. Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture of the department is in the much smaller town of Quimper.
Brittany is the westernmost region of Metropolitan France. It covers about four fifths of the territory of the historic province of Brittany. It is one of two regions in Metropolitan France that do not contain any landlocked departments, the other being Corsica.
Lorient is a town (commune) and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France.
The following is a list of the 249 communes of the Morbihan department of France.
Hœdic or Hoëdic is an island off the south coast of Brittany in northwestern France. Its bigger "twin sister" island is Houat.
The arrondissement of Lorient is an arrondissement of France in the Morbihan department in the Brittany region. It has 58 communes. Its population is 312,063 (2016), and its area is 1,461.8 km2 (564.4 sq mi).
This gallery of French coats of arms shows the coats of arms of the Provinces, Regions, and Departments of France and certain French cities. They are used to visually identify historical and present-day regions, as well as cities, within France.
Groix is an island and a commune in the Morbihan department of the region of Brittany in north-western France.
Saint-Jacut-les-Pins is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France.
Quiberon Bay is an area of sheltered water on the south coast of Brittany. The bay is in the Morbihan département.
The roadstead of Brest is a roadstead or bay located in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. The surface area is about 180 km². The port of Brest and one of the two French naval bases, Brest Arsenal, are located on its northern edge. It is linked to the Atlantic Ocean by the Goulet de Brest, a strait about 1.8 km wide. Three main rivers drain into the roadstead: the Penfeld, the Élorn and the Aulne.
Serge Duigou is a French historian, specialising in the history of Brittany. His work focuses on Breton maritime history, the women's place in the Breton society, the links between Brittany and modernity, the migratory movements from and to Brittany, the Breton popular revolts. His numerous conferences aim to make Breton history known to as many people as possible.
Lorient Submarine Base was a submarine naval base located in Lorient, France. It was built in 1941 by the German Kriegsmarine, and was continued to be enlarged until 1943. After the German defeat it was used by the French Navy. It was decommissioned in 1995 and converted to civilian use.
Roscoff is a town situated on the north coast of Finistère, Brittany. Its favorable position at the western end of the channel along with the efforts of the economic administrators have allowed the port to survive and develop itself within the different fields surrounding the sea. Amongst the 13 main Breton ports, Roscoff is one of the largest commercial harbours on the list.
The Harbor at Lorient is an oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Berthe Morisot, executed in 1869. The painting has the dimensions of 43 by 72 cm. It is held at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C.
The history of Lorient begins with the town's foundation in 1666 as a base for the French East India Company. This role was reinforced in 1675 during the Dutch War, when it was decided to abandon the company's other base in Le Havre in favor of Lorient alone. Other monopoly trading companies subsequently moved in and used the port and surrounding enclosure until the end of the Ancien Régime, helping to provide the town with its facilities; the site thus became the main agglomeration in southern Brittany from the mid-18th century onwards. From 1688, the port was also used by the Royal Navy, which had its ships built and armed there.
La Tanche was a French trawler used for a variety of activities between its commissioning in 1918 at La Rochelle and its sinking in 1940 just outside the roadstead of Lorient.
Tourism in Brittany attracts around 13 million visitors a year. An important sector of the region's economy, it accounts for just under 10% of the region's GDP, and directly employs just under 70,000 people. Seasonal activity extends from May to September, and is mainly concentrated on the coast, particularly in the departments of Finistère and Morbihan.
The Fishing port of Lorient-Keroman is a French fishing port in Lorient, a district of the same name. It is owned by the Brittany region and managed by a public-private partnership in which Lorient Agglomération is the majority shareholder. Since 2014, it has been the foremost French fishing port in terms of value and the second most productive French fishing port in terms of catch volume.
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