''Provence'' (D652) is an ''Aquitaine''-class frigate 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 ...

. The ''Aquitaine'' class were developed as part of the

FREMM multipurpose frigate The FREMM (French: ''Frégate Européenne Multi-Mission''; Italian: ''Fregata Europea Multi-Missione''), which stands for "European multi-purpose frigate", is a Franco-Italian family of multi-purpose frigates designed by Naval Group and Fincanti ...

program.

Development and design

Original plans were for 17 FREMM to replace the nine avisos and nine anti-submarine frigates of the and es. In November 2005 France announced a contract of €3.5 billion for development and the first eight hulls, with options for nine more costing €2.95 billion split over two tranches (totaling 17). Following the cancellation of the third and fourth of the s in 2005 on budget grounds, requirements for an air-defence derivative of the FREMM called FREDA were placed – with DCNS coming up with several proposals. Expectations were that the last two ships of the 17 FREMM planned would be built to FREDA specifications; however, by 2008 the plan was revised down to just 11 FREMM (9 ASW variants and 2 FREDA variants) at a cost of €8.75 billion (FY13, ~US$12 billion). The 11 ships would cost €670 million (~US$760m) each in FY2014, or €860m (~US$980m) including development costs. In 2015, the total number of ASW variants was further reduced to just six units, including ''Provence''.

Construction and career

''Provence'' was developed as part of a joint Italian-French program known as

FREMM The FREMM (French: ''Frégate Européenne Multi-Mission''; Italian: ''Fregata Europea Multi-Missione''), which stands for "European multi-purpose frigate", is a Franco-Italian family of multi-purpose frigates designed by Naval Group and Fincant ...

, which was implemented to develop a new class of frigates for use by various European navies. Construction on the ship began in 2010 and was completed in 2015. ''Provence'' operated in the north of the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

from 23 December 2015, and the frigate briefly joined the

carrier strike group A carrier strike group (CSG) is a type of carrier battle group of the United States Navy. It is an operational formation composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, usually an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least ...

, then joined the carrier strike group which in addition to ''Provence'' included the frigates and , a nuclear attack submarine, the replenishment ship , the British and the German , which accompanied them in the crossing of the

Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( fa, تنگه هرمز ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' ar, مَضيق هُرمُز ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the ...

on 26 December as part of

Opération Chammal Opération Chammal is a French military operation in Iraq and Syria launched to help curtail the expansion of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and to support the Iraqi Army. Its name comes from the Shamal (''Chammal'' in French), a n ...

. The Caiman Marine of the 33F flotilla embarked on ''Provence'' was able to show its ability to land on the American aircraft carrier. In March 2016, as part of

Combined Task Force 150 Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force working under the 34-nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces and is based in Bahrain established to monitor, board, inspect, and stop suspect shipping to p ...

, the frigate made a major arms seizure off the coast of Somalia. From 18 November to 2 December 2021, ''Provence'' took part in Exercise Polaris 21 in the western

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 north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

. In October 2022, the frigate participated in joint exercises with the

Croatian Navy , image = Seal of Croatian Navy.png , caption = Emblem of the Croatian Navy , start_date = 1991 , country = , allegiance = , branch = , type = Navy , role = , size = 1,36330 vessels , command_structure = Armed Forces of Croatia , ga ...

in the Adriatic Sea.

Gallery

File:FREMM Provence - Lorient 2014-08 a.JPG, ''Provence'' at

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

on 2 August 2014. File:FREMM Provence - Lorient 2014-08 b.JPG, ''Provence'' at Lorient on 2 August 2014. File:HMS DEFENDER conducting joint military training with the French ship FS PROVENCE MOD 45159479.jpg, alongside ''Provence'' on 1 February 2016. File:Joint Warrior 17-2 (37192864810).jpg, ''Provence'' leaving

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

on 1 October 2017. File:Joint Warrior 17-2 (36780374523).jpg, ''Provence'' leaving Glasgow on 1 October 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Provence, French frigate 2013 ships Aquitaine-class frigates Ships built in France