Armed by 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 reinforcement of an ASM 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 mer-mer 38 or mer-mer 40 missiles have been landed, but they carry several machine guns and machine guns, more suited to their new missions. Its construction cost was estimated at 270,000,000
French francs. == Construction and career ==