The ''Confiance'' class or Patrouilleurs Antilles Guyane (PAG), previously called "''Patrouilleurs légers guyanais''" (PLG, "Light Guyane patrol vessel") until January 2019 is a type of high sea

patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and th ...

developed and built by

Socarenam Socarenam (french: SOCARENAM, acronym: ''Société Calaisienne de Réparation Navale et Mécanique'') is a French employee-owned shipbuilding company that operates shipyards in multiple ports in northern and western of the country. History Soc ...

based upon plans by Mauric. They are in service with the French Navy. As of 2020, two of the ships, ''Confiance'' and ''Résolue'', were based in

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

, while the third, ''Combattante'', has her home port at

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island and an Overseas department and region, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of ...

History

In 2015, the

Direction générale de l'Armement The Direction générale de l’armement (DGA; English: Directorate General of Armaments), is the French Government Defence procurement and technology agency responsible for project management, development and purchase of weapon systems for the Fr ...

ordered two light

patrol ships A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and t ...

from

, as well as six years worth of maintenance for each ship from CNN MCO. The aim was to replace the s ''Gracieuse'' and ''Capricieuse'', based at

. The contract was worth €17 million per ship, and €24 million including development and maintenance. The ships are tasked with policing fishing, as well as patrolling off French Guiana when Ariane rockets are being launched. They are also designed to assist in policing drug trafficking using two

rigid-hulled inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are i ...

s (RHIBs) capable of carrying special forces teams. The RHIBs are made by Zodiac Milpro International. In September 2017, a third ship, which had been pre-ordered as optional in the initial contract, was also ordered for €23 million. Order for the third ship came after

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread destruction across its path in September 2017. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Ma ...

exposed a weakness in French naval capabilities in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. The ships were based designs by Mauric and constructed at Socarenam shipyards at

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the A ...

. The hulls were then towed to their site at

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C� ...

for fitting out, installing navigation equipment and mounting artillery. In late 2022, ''La Résolue'' deployed to

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindi ...

to assist the French Red Cross in the face of floods that affected the north of the island. The ship deployed with 350 tonnes of food, clothing and hygiene kits to support relief efforts.

Characteristics

The ships have a 24-sailor crew, and can accommodate 14 further passengers. The ''Confiance''-class patrol vessels can stay at sea for up to 12 days. They are equipped with two RHIBs for boarding parties. One of the RHIBs can be launched from a ramp at the aft, and the other from a

davit Boat suspended from radial davits; the boat is mechanically lowered Gravity multi-pivot on Scandinavia'' file:Bossoir a gravité.jpg, Gravity Roller Davit file:Davits-starbrd.png, Gravity multi-pivot davit holding rescue vessel on North Sea ferr ...

. Armament constitutes a remote-operated

Nexter Narwhal The Nexter Narwhal is a type of remotely operated naval artillery turret made by the French company Nexter. It houses a 20 mm autocannon based on the Nexter M621 and M693. The name "Narwhal" is a backronym of "NAval Remote Weapon, Highly Accura ...

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bulle ...

made by

Nexter Nexter Systems (formerly known as GIAT Industries or ''Groupement des Industries de l'Armée de Terre'', Army Industries Group) is a French government-owned weapons manufacturer, based in Roanne, Loire. Group organization The Nexter group i ...

, as well as mountings for and machine guns.

Ships in class

As of 2020, the French Navy was operating three ''Confiance''-class vessels.

Notes and references

{{Reflist

External links

Socarenam website
Patrol boat classes Patrol vessels of the French Navy Ship classes of the French Navy

History

Characteristics

Ships in class

See also

Notes and references

External links