Mistral-class landing helicopter dock

The Mistral class is a class of five landing helicopter docks built for France, called projection and command ships by the French Navy. Each can carry 16 helicopters, four landing craft, up to 70 vehicles including 13 Leclerc tanks, and 450 soldiers, and has a 69-bed hospital. The design came from a 1990s French study for a multi-purpose intervention ship and was built by DCN, later DCNS, together with Chantiers de l'Atlantique. For the first two ships, Mistral and Tonnerre, the yard at Saint-Nazaire built the forward half and towed it to Brest for assembly, while Dixmude and the later hulls, including the two ordered by Russia and sold to Egypt, were built entirely at Saint-Nazaire by STX France. Mistral was commissioned in December 2006, and the ships use diesel alternators feeding electric azimuth thrusters.