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Further Reading

Ouragan

The Ouragan class small dock landing ships [LSD] also can serve as maintenance, logistics and repair ships. Their addition to many multinational amphibian exercises highlighted the preponderance of the mode of unloading helicopters for the first wave of the operations amphibians. For this reason, with two or three spots helicopters, the TCD (especially those of the OURAGAN [HURRICANE] type which do not have a permanent helicopter hangar) are less powerful than the amphibious buildings of France's principal allies (SAN MARCO, ROTTERDAM, OCEAN).

It should be noted that they compensate for this fact by a very vast foundation raft carrying barges of great capacity (the in particular vastest CDIC, of the European embarked barges). This last capacity is very invaluable for the unloading of the heavy means. It will remain a complement useful to those of the Mistral NTCD in this field.

During year 2000, the TCD took part in a half-dozen multinational exercises, in multiple missions of reinforcement or presence in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic or Indian Ocean and has various national exercises. They also constituted the principal tool for presetting off Africa when the political tensions forced consideration of an evacuation of nationals (mission CORYMBE).

Both the Orage and Ouragan had service life extensions. The Ouragan was decommissioned in 2006, after over forty years in service, while Orange was paid off in 2007. Both of these ships were replaced with two new 20,000-ton Mistral class LHDs. The old ships were supposed to be transferred to the Argentine Navy, but the whole operation was placed on hold by the Argentine Government, due to concerns about asbestos, a toxic material used in the ships' construction. As of January 2011 they were moored in Toulon harbor.