Teriieroo A Teriierooiterai (P780) is the second of six POM vessels for the French Navy. It will be based in Papeete, French Polynesia. The hull was launched by Socarenam in St Malo in September 2022.
The first ship of the series, Auguste Bénébig (P779), reached its homeport of Nouméa in April this year. It entered active service in July.
The vessel is named after Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai, a Companion of Liberation (French: Compagnon de la Libération): A member of the Order of the Liberation, created on November 16, 1940 by General de Gaulle as “leader of the Free French” to “reward people, military and civilian communities who have distinguished themselves in the work of liberation of France and its empire”.
POM Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Indo-Pacific
For the record, the French Minister of the Armed Forces confirmed on January 17, 2020 an order for six “POM” offshore patrol vessels (OPV). The contract was awarded on December 24, 2019 to a Socarenam / CNN MCO consortium by the French armament procurement agency (DGA). Intended for the French Navy, these OPVs will be based in French overseas territories to replace ageing P400-class patrol boats.
The POM patrol vessels carry out protection missions in the French exclusive economic zones (EEZ), intervention against maritime pollution and for environmental protection, as well as rescue and assistance to people.
Two patrol boats will each be based in New Caledonia (Nouméa), French Polynesia (Papeete) and La Réunion (Port-des-Galets). The first of them, based in New Caledonia, is the August Bénébig, a native of Noumea and will be followed by the Jean Tranape. Those destined for French Polynesia will be baptized Teriieroo a teriierooiterai and Philippe Bernardino, those in La Réunion Auguste Techer and Félix Éboué.
The POM feature an endurance of 30 days without refueling. Each ship can accommodate a crew of 30 sailors and 23 passengers and operate an unmanned aerial vehicle (SMDM Aliaca by Survey Copter). Their armament includes a 20mm caliber remote-controlled turret (Narwhal by Nexter), as well as 12.7 mm and 7.62mm machine guns. Nexeya is supplying the combat management system. HENSOLDT UK is supplying the Kelvin Hughes Mk11 SharpEye surface search radars with combined HENSOLDT MSSR 2000 IFF systems. Vestdavit is supplying fast rescue boat davit systems.
The POM vessel are 79.9 meters long and 11.8 meters wide, with a draft of 3.5 meters for a displacement of 1,300 tons at full load.
Here is our video coverage onboard POM Auguste Bénébig
