Brand new, the Auguste Techer, third of six new overseas patrol vessels (POM) built by Socarenam for the French Navy, has arrived at the Brest naval base, where its tests will continue before its departure for La Réunion, where it will be based and put into service in 2025.
The vessel set sail on September 24 from the Soaceranam shipyard in Boulogne-sur-Mer to carry out its first sea trials, before heading to Calais to spend around three weeks in dry dock to carry out a complete refit of its hull. At the end, the Auguste Techer returned to sea and reached the Brest naval base on Monday, November 4. It must remain there until the beginning of next year in order to install certain military equipment while continuing its tests. It will then leave for the Indian Ocean and the island of Reunion, where it will be based. Its delivery is planned during the first half of 2025, with admission to active service by the summer.
This is the third of six new POMs of the French Navy, which commissioned in July 2023 and July 2024 the first two, the Auguste Bénébig and the Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai, in Nouméa (New Caledonia) and Papeete ( French Polynesia). Named Jean Tranape, the fourth patrol boat in this series sees the assembly of its hull completed at the Socarenam shipyard in Saint-Malo and will quickly, like its elders before it, reach Boulogne for its completion. Its delivery is at this stage scheduled for the end of 2025 in Nouméa. Will follow in 2026 the future Philippe Bernardino and Félix Éboué, who will be assigned to New Caledonia and Reunion.
Designed by the Mauric naval architecture office, the POMs, maintained in operational condition by CNN MCO, are buildings 79.9 meters long with a width of 11.8 meters and a displacement of 1,300 tonnes at full load. Capable of reaching 24 knots and crossing 5,500 nautical miles at 12 knots, they are armed by a crew of 30 sailors, with the possibility of accommodating 24 additional people. These new patrol boats are notably equipped with the Lyncea mission system, a Mk11 SharpEye surveillance radar, a Sea Eagle electro-optical system, a remotely operated 20 mm Narwhal cannon, machine guns, two Aliaca fixed-wing aerial drones (SMDM system) and two 6.7 meter semi-rigids.
– See our complete report aboard the POM Auguste Bénébig
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