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

landing ship An amphibious warfare ship (or amphib) is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault. Specialized shipping can be divided into two types, most crud ...

s of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...

. 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 all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

, 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 (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the speci ...

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

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

Ships

;

*''

Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...

'' decommissioned *''

Francis Garnier Marie Joseph François Garnier ( vi, Ngạc Nhi; 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 Exploration Commission in 19th ...

'' 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 nam ...

'' decommissioned in July 2017 *''

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier ( , also , , ; br, Jakez Karter; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French- Breton maritime explorer for France. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of ...

'' 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 The National Navy of Gabon (french: Marine Nationale du Gabon) is the naval branch of the Armed Forces of Gabon. It operates a few fast attack craft and patrol vessels to maintain security along its -long coastline. Overview Created on 16 Dec ...

* ''President el Hadj Omar Bongo'' (L05) ;

Royal Moroccan Navy ber, ⴰⴷⵡⴰⵙ ⴰⴳⴻⵍⴷⴰⵏ ⵏ ⵢⵉⵍⴻⵍ , image = , caption = Royal Moroccan Navy Seal , start_date = active since: 11th century current form: 30 Apr ...

* ''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