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