Fs Marne

The Marne is the fourth of five Durance class replenishment oiler, originally designed and built for service in the French Navy.  Besides the five ships built for the French Navy, a sixth was built for the Royal Australian Navy  (Hmas Success AOR 304) and the leading ship of the class Durance now serves with the Argentine Navy under the name Patagonia.

Five ships of the class were built for the French Navy:

Durance (A629), Meuse (A607), Var (A608), Marne (A630) and Somme (A631)

In French service, the ships are dubbed Bâtiment de commandement et ravitailleur (BCR, "command and replenishment ship"): in addition to their role as a fleet tanker, than can harbour an entire general staff and supervise naval operations.

Three ships of the class (the Marne, the Somme and the Var) are fitted out as flagships and can embark and an admiral and his staff. 

In October 2009, the Somme repelled an attack by Somali pirates. 

She is seen here arriving Leith (around 08:30am) today 23 April 2010

Seen here coming on to the Ocean Terminal Berth quite some time later, I think the Pilot was new

Also seen doing their excellent work tying up the ships (with no golf clubs in sight) are the Leith Boatmen. 

Fs Latouche Tréville

Latouche Tréville is a George Leygues class and she is a F70 type anti-submarine frigate of the French Marine Nationale.  They are polyvalent (multi-role), due to their Exocet and Crotale missle complement, making them especially suitable for defense of strategic positions, demonstrations, or highseas escorts.

The superstructures were built as to optimise resistance against nuclear explosion blasts.

The F70 is internationally labelled an "anti-submarine destroyer" (hence the "D" in the hull numbers), though the French don't use the term and refer to the ships as "frigates".

The last three ships of the class had their bridges raised one deck to overcome problems experienced by the first four in bad weather, as well as being equipped with DSBV 61 passive linear towed array sonar and several other upgraded systems.

The Cassard class AA frigates are an air defence variant of the Georges Leygues class.

Latouche Tréville is the third French vessel named after the 19th century politician and admiral Louis René Levassor de Latouche Tréville.  

She is seen here arriving in Leith early today (around 06:45am!) 23 April 2010

Forth Ports Tugs II

Here are a few of the tugs taken today whilst working with the arrivals of the two French Naval vessels..

See here for previous tugs shots.

Firstly with the French naval ship Marne in the background

MT Fidra

MT Seal Carr

MT Beamer

and some others..

MT Fidra

MT Seal Carr and MT Beamer

with the Marne

Fs Chevalier Paul

The French Horizon Class Destroyer Fs Chevalier Paul seen alongside in Leith today.

Seen also here

HrMs De Zeven Provinciën

HrMs De Zeven Provinciën is the first of the De Zeven Provinciën class of air defence and command frigates in service with the Royal Netherlands Navy.  There are three more in the class- Tromp, De Ruyter and Evertsen.  The class was designed in co-operation with Germany and Spain.

De Zeven Proviciën is the eith ship in the Royal Netherlands Navy to carry that name.  The name refers to the original seven Dutch provinces which together formed the Union of Utrecht.

HrMs De Zeven Provinciën is seen here arriving Leith 7 February 2003

HrMs De Zeven Provinciën is seen here arriving Leith 10 April 2010

HrMs Van Amstel

The Karel Doorman class wss made up of eight multi purpose frigates of the Royal Netherlands Navy.  The class is also know as the "Multi-Purpose" or M Class.

The ships are named after famous Dutch Naval officers, the first of the class was called Karel Doorman

Karel Doorman and Willem Van der Zaan were sold to Belgium in 2005

Tjerk Hiddes and Abraham van der Hulst were sold to Chile in 2004     

Van Nes and Van Speijk were sold to Portugal in 2006

Only Van Amstel  and Van Speijk remain in service.

HrMs Van Amstel is seen here arriving Leith 10 April 2010

Her bow is seen here in a reflective shot

HrMs Luymes

HrMs Luymes is one of two recently built Hydrographic Survey Vessel of the Royal Netherlands Navy.  They have both civilian and military tasks, gathering data for nautical charts and additional military Layers (WECDIS).  Ships can operate in a single crew mode or dual crew mode.  In total there are three crews for two ships.

She is seen here arriving in Leith today.

Fs Chevalier Paul

The Horizon Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF) is a multi-national collaboration to produce a new generation of anti-air warfare frigates.  Originally Britain, France and Italy, the project is now a French /Italian effort following the withdrawal of Britain due to differing requirements.  It is names Orizzonte in Italian and Horizon in French and England.

The French Horizon Class Destroyer Fs Chevalier Paul seen alongside in Leith today, she arrived in the port 24 hours earlier, she is due to leave Leith on Monday morning.  See also here for more images.

From the Leith Tugs

The Following images are all taken from the Forth Ports Tugs - Beamer, Seal Carr, Fidra or Oxcar, mostly taken in the mid 90's on a 35mm SLR camera using print film...

HMS Ark Royal

Arriving at Rosyth 11 May 1999 to begin her refit.

RFA Fort Austin

Seen here departing Crombie Pier 17 July 1999

Seen here departing 5 September 2000

Fgs Bayern
Arriving Leith 8 September 1999

Knm Bergen
Arriving Leith 4 June 1999

Knm Trondheim arriving the same day

Fgs Emden 

Arriving Leith 9 September 1999

Hms Exeter
Departing Leith 7 June 1999

 Taken from the top of the top of Beamer

Taken from the bridge roof of Beamer




















Fs Foudre
Arriving Leith 10 September 1999 

Rfa Fort Grange (now called Fort Rosalie)
Departing Crombie 23 April 2000

HrMs Jacob Van Heemskerck
Arriving Leith 21 February 2003

And here in the lock gates with Oxcar in attendance

Hms London
Arriving Leith 18 April 1999

Fgs Mecklenburg Vorpommeren
Arriving Leith 10 September 1999

Hdms Niels Juel
Arriving Leith 4 June 1999

Hdms Nordkapperen
Arriving Leith 20 February 1999

RFA Orangeleaf
Departing Crombie 23 November 1998

Fs Primaguet
Arriving Leith 9 September 1999

HrMs De Zeven Provincien
Arriving Leith 7 February 2003

Hms Southampton
Arriving Leith for IFOS (cant remember exact date - May 2003 I think)

Fgs Spessart
Arriving Leith 10 September 1999

Hms Sutherland
Arriving Leith 27 June 1999

Hms Tyne
Arriving Leith for IFOS (cant remember exact date - May 2003 I think)

HrMs Van Speijk
Arriving Leith 21 February 2003

RFA Fort Victoria
Arriving early morning on 27 January 2000

And arriving on the Pier

Bns Wandelaar
Arriving Leith 21 February 2003

HMS Invincible
Seen here just off Crombie Pier