The Marine Nationale (French Navy) 3rd Loire Class BSAM Support & Assistance Vessel FS SEINE A 604 entered Grand Harbour, Malta on Saturday 12th February for the first time (Maiden Call) at 0912 hrs berthing at Pinto 3 Wharf, part of Valletta Cruise Port.
She was commissioned on 24th July, 2019 and she’s the third ship from a Class of 4 designed and built by Kership. She’s based at Toulon, France and like other sisters she’s named after major French Rivers.
Loire Class vessels can conduct a wide range of support missions: They were designed to accommodate divers, to carry weapons and ammunition, to support submarines and surface ships, to tow underwater antennas, as well as to deploy a pollution control dam. They have a towing capacity of 80 tons of traction, a navigation speed of 14 knots and a significant endurance of about 30 days (without refueling).
They are fitted with an 8 meters boat (SKIF Type), several RHIBs and a crane for loading and unloading containers.
With a length overall of 70.30 metres she’s 15.80 metres wide and maximum draft of 5 metres. Her Displacement is 2,960 tonnes while she has 250 m²as deck loading area. She has 2 engines with 2,650 kW and 2 Generators with a cruising speed of 14 knots. Her crew is 17 and 12 passengers.
She left Valletta on Tuesday 15th February, 2022 at 0913 hrs and interesting to see her with 2 Civilian x 20ft TEU’s (Containers).
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Published – Saturday 19th February, 2022.
