French frigate Balny

Balny (F729) is a Commandant Rivière-class frigate in the French Navy.

Balny
History
France
Name	Balny
Namesake	Adrien-Paul Balny d'Avricourt
Builder	Arsenal de Lorient, Lorient
Laid down	March 1960
Launched	17 March 1962
Commissioned	1 February 1970
Decommissioned	1994
Identification	Pennant number: F729
Fate	Sunk as target, 2003
General characteristics
Class & type	Commandant Rivière-class frigate
Displacement	1,720 long tons (1,750 t) standard 2,190 long tons (2,230 t) full load
Length	98.0 m (321 ft 6 in) oa 103.0 m (337 ft 11 in) pp
Beam	11.5 m (37 ft 9 in)
Draught	4.3 m (14 ft 1 in)
Propulsion	1 shaft CODAG (1 x 11,500 bhp (8,600 kW) Turbomeca M38 gas turbine + 2 x 3,600 bhp (2,700 kW) AGO V16 diesel engines) 18,700 bhp (13,900 kW)
Speed	26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph)
Range	13,000 nmi (24,000 km; 15,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	2 × LCP landing craft
Complement	166
Sensors & processing systems	DRBV22A air search radar DRBC32C fire control radar DUBA3 sonar SQS17 sonar
Armament	2 × single 100 mm (4 in) guns - one gun later replaced by 4 MM38 Exocet missiles 2 × 30 mm guns 1 × 305 mm (12 in) anti-submarine mortar 2 × triple 550 mm (22 in) torpedo tubes (6 × L5 torpedoes)

Development and design

Main article: Commandant Rivière-class frigate

Designed to navigate overseas, the escort escorts were fully air-conditioned, resulting in appreciated comfort, which was far from being the case for other contemporary naval vessels.

A posting on a Aviso-escort was a boarding sought after by sailors because it was a guarantee of campaigning overseas and visiting the country.

Four other similar units were built at Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne (ACB) in Nantes for the Portuguese Navy under the class name João Belo.^[1]

All French units were decommissioned in the mid-1990s. Three ships were sold to the Uruguayan Navy.^[2][3]

Because a long-range was required for the overseas colonial role of the ships, most of the class was fitted with a 16,000-brake-horsepower (12,000 kW) two-shaft diesel powerplant. However Balny was fitted with an experimental CODAG (combined diesel and gas) installation, in which a Turbomeca M38 gas turbine (a modified Atar-8 aero-engine downrated from 15,000 bhp (11,000 kW) to 11,500 bhp (8,600 kW)) was combined with two 3,600 bhp (2,700 kW) AGO VI6 diesels for cruising.The gas turbine and the diesels could be clutched together to drive the single shaft, which was fitted with a 3.6m diameter controllable-pitch propeller. The CODAG arrangement took up less space, allowing 100 tons more fuel to be carried and giving a range of 13,000 nautical miles (24,000 km; 15,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Balny omitted one 100 mm gun turret to accommodate the revised machinery.^[4][5][6]

Construction and career

Balny was laid down in March 1960 at Arsenal de Lorient, Lorient. Launched on 17 March 1962 and commissioned on 1 February 1970.

She was decommissioned in 1994 and serve as a breakwater in Lanvéoc-Poulmic from 1994 to 2003.

Sunk as target in 2003.