''Mistral'' (L9013) is an

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of warship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory during an armed conflict. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (which, as a result, ar ...

, a type of helicopter carrier, of the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

. She is the fourth vessel to bear the name, and is the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of the amphibious assault ships.

Construction and career

''Mistral'' began

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s in January 2005, and was commissioned in February 2006. She departed from

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

for her first long-range journey in March, sailing through the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

, and the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

to Djibouti and India, before returning to France. In July, to ensure the safety of European citizens in the context of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, France set up Opération Baliste. ''Mistral'' was the flagship of the fleet unit off Lebanon, escorted by the frigates and , and along with another amphibious assault ship, . On 16 May 2008, the Burmese

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(UN) ambassador accused France of deploying ''Mistral'' to the Burmese coast for military purposes. The French UN ambassador denied this, stating that she was instead carrying 1,500 tons of relief supplies. In March 2011 ''Mistral'' was deployed to Libyan waters to help aid the joint

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

effort to repatriate tens of thousands of Egyptian refugees fleeing the violence in Libya. In January 2013, escorted by , ''Mistral'' took part in the ill-fated operation to retrieve Denis Allex, a DGSE officer held hostage in Bulo Marer. On 22 May 2022, ''Mistral'', operating in the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea (French language, French: ''Golfe de Guinée''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Golfo de Guinea''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Golfo da Guiné'') is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez i ...

in conjunction with the , , was involved in the seizure of almost two tons of drugs.

References

External links

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BPC ''Mistral''
Force Projection and Command Ship ''Mistral'' on Alabordache *
BPC ''Mistral''
Force Projection and Command Ship ''Mistral'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mistral Mistral-class amphibious assault ships Amphibious warfare vessels of France 2004 ships Ships built in France fr:Classe Mistral

Construction and career

References

Further reading

External links