Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior , codenamed " Opération Satanique " , was an operation by the " action " branch of the French foreign intelligence service s , the " Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure " ( DGSE ) , carried out on 10 July 1985 . During the operation , two operatives sank the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet , the " Rainbow Warrior " in the port of Auckland , New Zealand . The French government wanted to prevent the ship from interfering with a planned nuclear test in Moruroa . Fernando Pereira , a photographer , drowned on the sinking ship . Two French agents were arrested by the New Zealand Police on passport fraud and immigration charges . They were charged with arson , conspiracy to commit arson , willful damage , and murder . As part of a plea bargain , they pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years in prison , of which they served just over two . The resulting scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu . Sinking of the ship . French agents posing as interested supporters or tourists toured the ship while it was open to public viewing . DGSE agent Christine Cabon , posing as environmentalist Frederique Bonlieu , volunteered to work in the Greenpeace office in Auckland . Cabon secretly monitored communications from the " Rainbow Warrior " , collected maps , and investigated underwater equipment , in order to provide information crucial to the sinking . After the necessary information had been gathered two DGSE divers attached two limpet mines to the " Rainbow Warrior " berthed at Marsden Wharf and detonated them 10 minutes apart . The first bomb went off 11 : 38 p . m . , creating a large hole about the size of an average car . Agents intended the first mine to cripple the ship so that it would be evacuated safely by the time the second mine was detonated . However , the crew did not react to the first explosion as the agents had expected . While the ship was initially evacuated , some of the crew returned to the ship to investigate and film the damage . A Portuguese - Dutch photographer , Fernando Pereira , returned below decks to fetch his camera equipment . At 11 : 45 p . m . , the second bomb went off . Pereira drowned in the rapid flooding that followed , and the other ten crew members either safely abandoned ship on the order of Captain Peter Willcox or were thrown into the water by the second explosion . The " Rainbow Warrior " sank four minutes later . France implicated . Operation " Satanique " was a public relations disaster . France , being an ally of New Zealand , initially denied involvement and joined in condemning what it described as a terrorist act . The French Embassy in Wellington denied involvement , stating that " the French Government does not deal with its opponents in such ways " . After the bombing , the New Zealand Police started one of the country ' s largest police investigations . Most of the agents on the team escaped New Zealand , but two , Captain Dominique Prieur and Commander Alain Mafart were identified as possible suspects . Posing as a married couple , Sophie and Alain Turenge , were identified with the help of a Neighborhood Watch group , and were arrested . Both were questioned and investigated . While carrying Swiss passport s , their true identities were discovered , along with the French government ' s responsibility . Three other agents , Chief Petty Officer Roland Verge , Petty Officer Bartelo and Petty Officer Gérard Andries , who sailed to New Zealand on the yacht " Ouvéa " , were arrested by Australian police on Norfolk Island , but released as Australian law did not allow them to be held until the results of forensic tests came back . They were then picked up by the French submarine " Rubis " , which scuttled the " Ouvéa " . A sixth agent , Louis - Pierre Dillais , commander of the operation , was never captured and never faced charges . He acknowledged his involvement in an interview with New Zealand State broadcaster TVNZ in 2005 . Prieur and Mafart pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years ' imprisonment on 22 November 1985 . France threatened an economic embargo of New Zealand ' s exports to the European Economic Community if the pair were not released . Such an action would have crippled the New Zealand economy , which was dependent on agricultural exports to Britain . In June 1986 , in a political deal with Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange , presided over by United Nations Secretary - General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar , France agreed to pay NZ $ 13 million ( USD $ 6 . 5 million ) to New Zealand and apologise , in return for which Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur would be detained at the French military base on Hao Atoll for three years . However , the two agents had both returned to France by May 1988 , after less than two years on the atoll . Mafart returned to Paris on 14 December 1987 for medical treatment , and was apparently freed after the treatment . He continued in the French Army and was promoted to colonel in 1993 . Prieur returned to France on 6 May 1988 , because she was pregnant , her husband having been allowed to join her on the atoll . She , too , was freed and later promoted . The removal of the agents from Hao without subsequent return was ruled to be in violation of the 1986 agreement . A commission of enquiry headed by Bernard Tricot cleared the French government of any involvement , claiming that the arrested agents , who had not yet pleaded guilty , had merely been spying on Greenpeace . When " The Times " and " Le Monde " claimed that President Mitterrand had approved the bombing , Defence Minister Charles Hernu resigned and the head of the DGSE , Admiral Pierre Lacoste , was fired . Eventually , Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted the bombing had been a French plot : On 22 September 1985 , he summoned journalists to his office to read a 200 word statement in which he said : " The truth is cruel , " and acknowledged there had been a cover - up , he went on to say that " Agents of the French secret service sank this boat . They were acting on orders . " Aftermath . In the wake of the bombing , a flotilla of private New Zealand yachts sailed to Moruroa to protest against the French test . At that time , French nuclear tests in the Pacific were halted . However , another series of tests was conducted in 1995 . In 1987 , under international pressure , the French government paid $ 8 . 16 million to Greenpeace . The " Rainbow Warrior " was refloated for forensic examination . She was deemed irreparable and scuttled at in Matauri Bay , near the Cavalli Islands , on 12 December 1987 , to serve as a dive wreck and fish sanctuary . Her masts had been removed and put on display at the Dargaville Maritime Museum . The failure of Western leaders to condemn this violation of a friendly nation ' s sovereignty caused a great deal of change in New Zealand ' s foreign and defence policy . New Zealand distanced itself from its traditional ally , the United States , and built relationships with small South Pacific nations , while retaining excellent relations with Australia , and to a lesser extent , the United Kingdom . In 2005 , " Le Monde " released a 1986 report that said Admiral Pierre Lacoste , head of DGSE at the time , had " personally obtained approval to sink the ship from the late president François Mitterrand . " Soon after the publication , former Admiral Lacoste came forward and gave newspaper interviews about the situation , while also admitting the death weighed on his conscience and said the aim of the operation had not been to kill . He acknowledged the existence of three teams : the crew of the yacht , reconnaissance and logistics ( those successfully prosecuted ) , plus a two - man team that carried out the bombing and whose identities have never been confirmed . A 20th anniversary memorial edition of the 1986 book " Eyes of Fire : The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior " , by New Zealand author David Robie who was on the bombed ship , was published in July 2005 . He was interviewed by TVNZ on 8 August 2006 about the Court of Appeal judgement . Also on that anniversary , Television New Zealand ( TVNZ ) sought to access a video record made at the preliminary hearing where the two agents pleaded guilty . The footage had remained sealed on the court record since shortly after conclusion of the criminal proceedings . The two agents opposed release of the footage — despite having both written books on the incident — and have unsuccessfully taken the case to the New Zealand Court of Appeal and , subsequently , the Supreme Court of New Zealand . On 7 August 2006 , judges Hammond , O ' Regan and Arnold dismissed the former French agents ' appeal and Television New Zealand broadcast their guilty pleas the same day . However , two days later the judges reversed their ruling , temporarily blocking webcasts and further broadcasts of the footage . In 2006 Antoine Royal revealed that his brother , Gérard Royal , had claimed to be involved in planting the bomb . Their sister is French Socialist Party politician Ségolène Royal who was contesting the French presidential election . Other sources identified Royal as merely a Zodiac pilot , and the New Zealand government announced there would be no extradition requests since the case was closed . Louis - Pierre Dillais is now an executive in the U . S . subsidiary of Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal and lives in the U . S . state of Virginia . Ironically the New Zealand government has been buying arms from FN Herstal . Greenpeace are still pursuing the extradition of Dillais for his involvement in the act . On 14 October 2011 , Greenpeace launched a new sailing vessel called Rainbow Warrior III , which is equipped with an auxiliary electric motor . Films ( all are productions for television ) :