Dixmude (L9015) is an amphibious assault ship, a type of helicopter carrier, of the French Navy. She is the third vessel to bear the name, and is the third ship of the .
Dixmude was delivered to the French defence procurement agency on 3 January 2012, three months ahead of schedule.[1]
In January 2013, Dixmude took part in Operation Serval, ferrying elements of the 92ème Régiment d'Infanterie to Mali.[2]
In April 2016, it was announced she would be part of the Anglo-French military exercise CJEX.[3]
In July 2018, the ship docked in Haifa port, Israel for a joint exercise with the Israeli Navy.[4]
In October 2018, a French NH90 crashed on takeoff when mooring lashing was left tied, and this damaged the flight deck.[5] The crash occurred at night, leaving 4 injured and 1 required medical evacuation.[5]
In April 2020, the ship operated as part of a joint British, French and Dutch naval task force in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in overseas territories in the Caribbean. RFA was also present as the UK's commitment to supporting British Overseas Territories along with HMS Medway as the Caribbean guard ship.[6]
In February 2023, Dixmude was tasked to initiate an around the world deployment accompanied by the frigate . The deployment was to involve a series of exercises and port calls en route, including at several French overseas territories. For the deployment, Dixmude embarked one of the new EDA-S landing craft, along with one EDA-R and one CTM landing craft.[7] The two vessels returned to Toulon in July.[8]