French aviso Second-Maître Le Bihan
1977 D'Estienne d'Orves-class aviso
Second-Maître Le Bihan (F788) was a D'Estienne d'Orves-class aviso in the French Navy. She was later transferred to the Turkish Navy as Burak-class corvette TCG Bafra (F-505).
Design
With a crew of 90 sailors, these vessels have the reputation of being among the most difficult in bad weather. Their high windage makes them particularly sensitive to pitch and roll as soon as the sea is formed.
Their armament, consequent for a vessel of this tonnage, allows them to manage a large spectrum of missions. During the Cold War, they were primarily used to patrol the continental shelf of the Atlantic Ocean in search of Soviet Navy submarines. Due to the poor performance of the hull sonar, as soon as an echo appeared, the dispatch of an Anti-Submarine Warfare frigate was necessary to chase it using its towed variable depth sonar.
Their role as patrollers now consists mainly of patrols and assistance missions, as well as participation in UN missions (blockades, flag checks) or similar marine policing tasks (fight against drugs, extraction of nationals, fisheries control, etc.). The MM38 or MM40 Exocet missiles have been landed, but they carry several machine guns, more suited to their new missions.
Its construction cost was estimated at 270,000,000 French francs.
The public source identifies “French aviso Second-Maître Le Bihan” as 1977 D'Estienne d'Orves-class aviso. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around French, aviso and Second-Maître.
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