This is the story of my life so far: 67 years and counting.
Prequel: A Brief History of my Family in France
The story starts here
Previous episode: Part 37
The BDC Trieux
The ship I was posted on in Tahiti in 1971-1972 was a "BDC", that is a "Bâtiment de Débarquement de Chars", or in English a "Tank Landing Ship" (LST).
BDC Trieux in Papeete Harbor
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There have been five BDCs built in Nantes in 1958-1960. They were basically bad copies of the LST built by the USA during World War II.
They all had names of small French coastal rivers: Trieux, Argens, Blavet, Dives and Bidassoa.
Like the American LSTs, the BDCs their bow had a large door and a ramp that were used to load and unload various material and vehicles, on beaches or in ports.
Because of this design and the fact that the BDCs had small diesel engines, their maximum speed was around 10 knots and could be much slower when the sea was rough.
The BDC Trieux at Sea
There were two other BDCs in Tahiti then: the Blavet and the Dives.
The BDC Trieux crossing the BDC Blavet
In 1967, the Trieux was equipped with a hangar suited for two helicopters Alouette III.
Alouette III Marine
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The helicopters were used to transport material on different atolls in French Polynesia, where it was impossible for any ship to dock anywhere or even to anchor.
Cargo-Sling on a BDC
In the next episode, we will see what kind of operations the BDC Trieux was doing during my post.
Continue to Part 39
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Summary
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7
Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14
Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21
Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 - Part 26 - Part 27 - Part 28
Part 29 - Part 30 - Part 31 - Part 32 - Part 33 - Part 34 - Part 35
Part 36 - Part 37