Saint‑Nazaire, France, 17 April 2026 — The third
French Logistic Support Ship (LSS), Émile Bertin, was officially
launched today at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard, marking a major
milestone in the Franco‑Italian Logistic Support Ship (LSS) Programme managed
by OCCAR.
The launch ceremony was hosted by Laurent Castaing,
Chief Executive Officer of Chantiers de l’Atlantique, together with Vincent
Martinot‑Lagarde, Director for Surface Ships at Naval Group. The event gathered
representatives from French authorities, international partners and industry,
including Philippe de Wispelaere, Sub‑Prefect of Saint‑Nazaire; General
Stéphane Kammerer, Deputy Director for Operations, Maintenance and Digital at
the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA); Admiral Rémi Thomas, Deputy Head
of Plans and Programmes at the French Naval Headquarters; Colonel Kengo
Kobayashi, Defence Attaché of Japan in France; and Darren Ash, Head of
Programmes at OCCAR‑EA.
Managed by OCCAR on behalf of France and Italy, the
LSS Programme aims to deliver six logistic support ships—four for the French
Navy and two for the Italian Navy—together with associated in‑service support.
An option is also included for a third ship for the Italian Navy. Émile
Bertin is the fifth ship of the programme overall and the third vessel for
France, following the Italian ships Vulcano and Atlante and the
French ships Jacques Chevallier and Jacques Stosskopf, all of which
have already been delivered.
Speaking at the ceremony, OCCAR‑EA Head of
Programmes Darren Ash highlighted the programme’s steady progress and expressed
confidence in industry’s continued performance during the remaining phases of
outfitting, system integration and testing. Following these activities, Émile
Bertin is scheduled to depart Saint‑Nazaire for Brest in 2027.
OCCAR is expected to take delivery of the ship in
mid‑summer 2027, further enhancing the logistical capabilities of the French
Navy and contributing to improved interoperability within European naval
operations.
The ship is named in honour of Émile Bertin
(1840–1924), a prominent French naval engineer whose groundbreaking work had a
lasting impact on modern warship design. Notably, he was instrumental in
establishing the Paris hydrodynamic test tank in 1906 and contributed
significantly to naval research and innovation. Bertin also played a key role
in supporting Japan during the Meiji era in the development of a modern and
effective navy, while simultaneously leading French naval shipbuilding for more
than a decade.
The presence of representatives from the Embassy of
Japan provided an opportunity to highlight this historic link and to recall the
long‑standing cooperation between Émile Bertin and Japan at the end of the 19th
century.