The French Navy is a Good Neighbor

This week we saw the dock behind the Africa Mercy cleaned up and secured with a blockade of shipping containers.  Soon after that a French Navy Ship (a Frigate) docked.
They invited the crew from the Africa Mercy to tour their ship.  We took advantage of the opportunity.
We boarded The Commandant Blaison on a fairly steep gangway since it was high tide.

Notice how the area is secured by using cargo containers.
The French Frigate is 80.5 meters in length and holds a crew of 90 men!  It's tight quarters and very utilitarian.  There is no wasted space on this ship.
The dock was nice and clean in keeping with military standards.

Our tour guide did well with English, since none us spoke French.

A shade cover over the forward deck was welcome relief from the afternoon sun.

The ship was built in 1981 and was one of the first ships to used diesel fuel.  Prior patrol boats, used during the cold war to track submarines, used steam engines.  Steam engines took over 10 hours to start up.  Diesel engines cut that time down to about an hour. They expect the Navy will keep this ship for another 7 years.

The quarters are very tight.  Although we did not see the sleeping quarters, we were shown the stair to a lower level which housed 24 men.  Bunks are stacked three high. We were all thankful that the Africa Mercy has a lot more space.  This visit however, does give another picture of "community."  

It's always good to be reminded of the sacrifice that the military makes.  It's always good to be reminded of our allies serving to promote and protect freedom all around the world.

Chuck