The Bâtiment de Transport Léger (abbreviated BATRAL; "Light ferry ship") are small landing ships 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 ...

. Also known as ''Champlain'' class by 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 ...

, they have been used for regional transport and patrol needs in French Overseas Departments and Territories since the 1970s. On 9 January 2014 it was announced that the two remaining Batrals in French service would be replaced in 2015/16 by three (subsequently four) 1500-tonne Bâtiments Multimission (B2M) at a cost of ~€100m (US$136m).

Design

The BATRALs can ferry over 400 tons of

matériel Materiel or matériel (; ) is supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. Military In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers eith ...

, in the hangar and on the deck. Loading and unloading can be done from a harbour or on a beach. Two flat-bottom vessels allow unloading fifty men and light vehicles each. The accommodations are designed for a ''Guépard''-type intervention unit (five officers, fifteen petty officers and 118 men), or for typical company-sized armoured units. A helicopter landing deck allows landing for light helicopters, and transfer to and from heavy helicopters.

History

The

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy () is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense (Chile), Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Ori ...

purchased the plans and built three ships in the ASMAR shipyards in the early 1980s.

Ships

;

*'' Champlain'' decommissioned *''

Francis Garnier Marie Joseph François Garnier (; 25 July 1839 – 21 December 1873) was a French officer, inspector of Indigenous Affairs of Cochinchina and explorer. He eventually became mission leader of the Mekong Expedition of 1866–68, Mekong Exploration C ...

'' decommissioned *''

Dumont D'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his name ...

'' decommissioned in July 2017 *''

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier (; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first Europeans, European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, wh ...

'' decommissioned *'' La Grandière'' decommissioned in 2016 ;

*''Maipo'' (LST-91) 1982–1998 *''Rancagua'' (LST-92) 1983–present *''Chacabuco'' (LST-95) 1986–present ; Côte d'Ivoire Navy * ''L'Elephant'' ; Gabon Navy * ''President el Hadj Omar Bongo'' (L05) ;

Royal Moroccan Navy The Royal Moroccan Navy of Morocco () is a branch of the military of Morocco responsible for conducting naval operations. The Royal Moroccan Navy is administratively managed by the Administration of Defence, which is (''de facto'') commanded b ...

* ''Daoud Ben Aicha'' (402) * ''Ahmed Es Skali'' (403) * ''Abou Abdallah El Ayachi'' (404) Image:BATRAL-francis-garnier-02.jpg, at sea Image:BATRAL-francis-garnier-36.jpg, ''Francis Garnier'' in port Image:BATRAL29.jpg, ''

'' with her landing bow opened

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batral Amphibious warfare vessel classes BATRAL BATRAL Ship classes of the French Navy