Archives

Naval Group delivers first Gowind to Egypt

Less than 29 months after cutting the first steel for the first Gowind 2500 corvette at its Lorient shipyard, Naval Group (ex-DCNS) delivered the Elfateh to the Egyptian Navy on 22 September. The Elfateh is the first of four Gowind 2500s on order for Egypt. Whereas the first of class was built in France the other three will be built in Alexandria under a technology transfer agreement with French technical assistance.

 

[…]

Ocea, latest deliveries and orders

French boatbuilder Ocea recently delivered two type FPB72 fast patrol boats to the Nigerian Navy and won a new order placed by the same client. The all-aluminium FPB72 is 24m long with a beam of 5.8m. It has a top speed of 35 knots and a range of 600nm at 12kts, carries ten personnel and a fast RIB, and is armed with machineguns. The hulls were produced by Ocea’s Fontenay-le-Comte yard and fitted out at Sables d’Olonne, both on France’s Atlantic coast. On completion, the boats were sent to Saint-Nazaire where they were loaded onto the deck of a cargo ship bound for Nigeria.

 

[…]

Model ships for work, not play

Picture wooded slopes in the foothills of the French Alps, mostly old-growth hazel with roe deer roaming free, and a long, long way from the sea. A patched-up road leads to a lake and an eighteenth-century hunting lodge. Believe it or not, many a sailor — from Mississippi pilots to Russian captains of ice-breaking LNG carriers — has fond memories of this bucolic setting. Not far from here is the Palais idéal, or Ideal palace, a curious masterpiece built by French postman Ferdinand Cheval between 1879 and 1912.

[…]