Ivorian Navy steps up with new patrol boat on the way to Abidjan

Vice-Admiral N’GUESSAN KOUAME CELESTIN, Chief of Staff of the Ivorian Navy (CEMMAR), unveiled on Friday 22 April 2022, at the Place d’Armes of the Naval Base, the forthcoming acquisition of a P400 ship, two OPV45s and maritime surveillance drones.

The P400 is a class of French Navy patrol boat, built to carry out missions of surveillance and protection of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), fisheries policing, etc., as part of the State’s action at sea.

To meet the needs resulting from the creation of the French 200-mile EEZ, the French Navy launched a programme in 1981 for 10 400-tonne patrol boats, which were gradually replaced under the BATSIMAR (Bâtiments de surveillance et d’intervention maritime) project by simple, robust vessels of greater tonnage, with the aim of improving seaworthiness, increasing autonomy and carrying a helicopter. It has sold three of these 10 P400 patrol boats to the Kenyan Navy (Harembee) and the Gabonese Navy (General Ba-Oumar – P07 (received in 1988) and Colonel Djoué Dabany – P08 (received in 1990).