page_title: French frigate Prairial
section_title: Construction and career
hierarchical_section_title: French frigate Prairial / Construction and career
caption_attribution_description: French frigate Prairial in Hong Kong harbour (April 2006). Personal photograph.
context_page_description: Prairial is a Floréal-class frigate of the French Navy. She is the second ship of the class, and the second French warship named after the ninth month of the Republican Calendar.. The ship was constructed by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire, France in 1992 and entered service in 1993. Prairial is stationed in the French Pacific territories for patrol duties.
context_section_description: Prairial was ordered as part of the first pair on 20 January 1989 from Chantiers de l'Atlantique for construction at their yard in Saint-Nazaire, France and the keel was laid down on 11 September 1990. The frigate was built using modular construction methods which reduced the vessel's construction time. Prairial was launched on 16 March 1991 and commissioned into the French Navy on 20 May 1992. Following sea trials, Prairial sailed for Arsenal de Lorient, Lorient where the weapons and sensors were installed and underwent further trials.
  After entering service, Prairial was assigned to the French Pacific territories, based at Tahiti. Prairial was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce from 16 October to 29 November 1999.
  On 13 February 2016, the frigate intercepted a 12-metre (39 ft), Panamanian-flagged sailboat in Pacific waters. Three crew members were arrested and 680 kilograms (1,500 lb) of cocaine was seized. In July 2016, Prairial participated in RIMPAC 2016, a large multi-national naval exercise off the coast of Hawaii, as the only representative of the European Union.
  From 27 July to 2 August 2018, the frigate took part in RIMPAC 2018. In March 2019, Prairial intercepted 800 kilograms (1,800 lb) of cocaine after a panga was spotted adrift off the coast of Nicaragua in international waters.
caption: Prairial in Hong Kong, April 2006
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