French frigate Balny

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 and 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	2 shafts (4 × SEMT-Pielstick 12-cylinder diesel engines) 16,000 bhp (12,000 kW)
Speed	25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range	7,500 nmi (13,900 km; 8,600 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	2 × LCP landing craft
Complement	166
Sensors and processing systems	DRBV22A air search radar DRBC32C fire control radar DUBA3 sonar SQS17 sonar
Armament	3 × 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)

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

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.

All French units were decommissioned in the mid-1990s. Three ships were sold to the Uruguayan Navy.

In 1984, Commandant Rivière underwent a redesign to become an experimentation building. It will retain only a single triple platform of 550mm anti-submarine torpedo tubes and all the rest of the armament was landed, replaced by a single 40mm anti-aircraft gun and two 12.7mm machine guns.

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.