Maritime Gendarmerie

The Maritime Gendarmerie (French: Gendarmerie maritime) is a component of the French National Gendarmerie under operational control of the chief of staff of the French Navy. It employs 1,157 personnel and operates around thirty patrol boats and high-speed motorboats distributed on the littoral waterways of France.[3] Like their land-based colleagues the Gendarmes Maritime are military personnel carry out policing operations in addition to their primary role as a coast guard service. They also carry out provost duties within the French Navy.

Maritime Gendarmerie
Gendarmerie maritime
Agency overview
Formed1832 – present[1][2]
Employees1,157
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionFrance
General nature
Specialist jurisdiction
  • Coastal patrol, marine border protection, marine search and rescue.
Operational structure
Parent agencyNational Gendarmerie
National Gendarmerie
Components

The uniforms and insignia of the Gendarmerie Maritime are very similar to those of the French Navy, but the ranks used are those of the rest of the Gendarmerie (which are the same as the traditional ranks of the French Cavalry).

Mission

The mission of the Maritime Gendarmerie is as follows:[4]

Organisation

The Maritime Gendarmerie is commanded by a colonel who is assisted by a staff located in Paris. The coastguard is articulated in 3 groupings, 7 companies and 64 units (brigades of research, brigades of monitoring of the littoral, group of safety of the protected zones, group of monitoring of intervention and reinforcement, patrol craft, coastal high-speed motorboats of maritime surveillance) whose geographical distribution is as follows:[3]

  • Metropolitan France :
    • grouping of the English Channel and the North Sea in Cherbourg (2 companies)
    • grouping of the Atlantic in Brest (4 companies);
    • grouping of the Mediterranean in Toulon (2 companies);
    • company from Paris to the Career-on-Seine (under the authority of the state major);
    • national instruction center of the GM (C.N.I.G.M) in Toulon.
  • Overseas:
    • Guadeloupe: 1 patrol craft; (Violette P722)[5]
    • French Guiana: 2 high-speed 20-metre motorboats (Charente P613 and Organabo P624);
    • Mayotte: 1 patrol craft (20 metre high-speed motorboat - Odet P611);
    • French Polynesia: 1 patrol craft (Jasmin P723) and a brigade;
    • New Caledonia: 1 high-speed motorboat of 20 meters (Dumbéa P606) and 2 brigades;
    • Martinique: 1 coastal harbor tug (RPC) Maïto (A636) [6]
    • Reunion: 1 high-speed 20-meter patrol boat (Verdon P602)[7]

Patrol boats
Class Picture Type Boat Displacement Note
Maroni-classPatrol boatP692 Maroni
P693 Oyapock
P694 Aber Ildut		72.5 tonnesBased in Cherbourg, Dunkirk and Boulogne-sur-Mer[8]
Follow-on 46-meter PCG-classPatrol boat350 tonnesSix vessels planned for delivery from late 2024;[9] Initially to replace Géranium and Jonquille-classes[10]
Géranium-classPatrol boatP720 Géranium
P722 Violette		100 tonnes
Jonquille-classPatrol boatP721 Jonquille
P723 Jasmin		98 tonnes
Elorn-classPatrol boatP601 Elorn
P602 Verdon
P603 Adour
P604 Scarpe
P605 Vertonne
P606 Dumbéa
P607 Yser
P608 Argens
P609 Hérault
P610 Gravona
P611 Odet
P612 Maury
P613 Charente
P614 Tech
P615 Penfeld
P616 Trieux
P617 Vésubie
P618 Escaut
P619 Huveaune
P620 Sèvre
P621 Aber Wrac'h
P622 Esteron
P623 Mahury
P624 Organabo		41 tonnes
Pétulante-classPatrol boatA789 Melia16 tonnes
Pavois-classPatrol boatP692 Pavois
P693 Ecu
P964 Rondache
P695 Harnois
P696 Haubert
P697 Heaume
P698 Brigantine
P699 Gantelet		10.2 tonnes

See also

References
  1. "La gendarmerie maritime". Net-Marine (in French). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  2. Le lieutenant-colonel Ebel. "La gendarmerie de la restauration au second empire". La société nationale de l’histoire et du patrimoine de la gendarmerie - société des amis du musée de la gendarmerie (in French). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  3. "La gendarmerie maritime". Ministry of Defense. 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  4. "La gendarmerie maritime" (in French). Ministry of Interior. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  5. "Un nouveau commandant pour le "La Violette", un navire indispensable à la lutte contre la drogue en Guadeloupe".
  6. "La "Violette" des forces armées aux Antilles à la rencontre de Guirec Soudée".
  7. "La Réunion : La base navale vue du ciel | Mer et Marine". 19 July 2017.
  8. "The French Navy receives the first two new generation maritime surveillance coastal patrol boats". 28 April 2022.
  9. "Le premier des six nouveaux patrouilleurs côtiers de la Gendarmerie maritime officiellement commandé".
  10. "Six nouveaux patrouilleurs côtiers pour la Gendarmerie maritime".
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