French ship Tonnerre (L9014)

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Tonnerre (L9014; lit. Thunder) is an amphibious assault helicopter carrier of the Marine Nationale. She is the eighth vessel to bear the name and the second ship in the Template:Sclass amphibious assault ship series.

Construction and career

File:M1A1 Abrams embarks FS Tonnerre.JPG

US M1 Abrams enters Tonnerre off the coast of North Carolina

Tonnerre was laid down in two parts. On 26 August 2003, the aft section was laid down by Arsenal de Brest at Brest and the bow section was laid down 5 May 2004 by Chantiers de Saint-Nazaire at Saint-Nazaire. The vessel was launched on 26 July 2005 and began active service in December 2006.

TonnerreTemplate:'s maiden voyage occurred between 10 April and 24 July 2007. During this voyage, Tonnerre was involved in Opération Licorne, the French co-deploying complement to the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire following the Ivorian Civil War. Gazelle and Cougar helicopters of the French Air Force operated from the ship beginning on 9 July.

At the start of 2008, Tonnerre was involved in the Corymbe 92 mission (see Standing French Navy Deployments), a humanitarian mission in the Gulf of Guinea. During this deployment, Tonnerre acted on tip-offs from the European Maritime Analysis Operation Centre – Narcotics, and intercepted Template:Convert of smuggled cocaine: Template:Cvt from a fishing vessel Template:Convert from Monrovia on 29 January, and Template:Cvt from a cargo ship Template:Convert off Conakry.

In May 2011, the French Military deployed Tiger and Gazelle helicopters on the ship to augment forces engaged in Opération Harmattan and later Operation Unified Protector during the Libyan Civil War. along with allied ships such as the British helicopter carrier Template:HMS which also provided its own attack helicopters.

File:Port of Beirut 15-8-2020.jpg

Tonnerre (right) providing support at Port of Beirut on Template:Dts

In 2020, Tonnerre was deployed to Beirut, Lebanon, shortly after an ammonium nitrate explosion at the city's port killed roughly 200 people and caused significant destruction, including the loss of the nation's main grain elevator. The ship arrived in Beirut on Template:Dts with "75,000 army rations, large quantities of flour, [and] medical supplies", as well as fire trucks and construction materials.Template:R Around 350 personnel were to join the clean-up efforts around the port, which was expected to take weeks.Template:R

In 2021, Tonnerre deployed to the Pacific accompanied by the frigate , to conduct the joint La Perouse naval exercise with the four Quadrilateral Security Dialogue members participating. From 18 November to 2 December 2021, Tonnerre took part in Exercise Polaris 21 in the western Mediterranean Sea. In late 2022 she operated with the frigate in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Guinea.

In October 2023 Tonnerre was deployed as a hospital ship to the Eastern Mediterranean during the Gaza war, joining the frigates and Surcouf which were also deployed to the region.

In 2024, Tonnerre, accompanied by the frigate Guépratte, was tasked to undertake a prolonged deployment circumventing South America and also visiting North America. As part of her deployment, the ship was to embark 162 officer cadets and a French Army detachment including two Gazelle helicopters, two light (armoured) cavalry platoons, one section from the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment as well as other elements including some 40 vehicles among them the VBMR Griffon.

See also

• List of ship launches in 2005

External links

• BPC Tonnerre Template:Webarchive Force Projection and Command Ship Tonnerre on Alabordache
• BPC Tonnerre Force Projection and Command Ship Tonnerre