Brest Naval Base (l'arsenal de Brest)

Brest Arsenal (arsenal de Brest) is a naval base of the French Navy, occupying the banks of the river Penfeld where it enters the roadstead of Brest, on the Atlantic coast of Brittany, France. It is the second French naval base after Toulon and ahead of Cherbourg, and is the seat of the high command of the Brest maritime arrondissement.

The base combines fleet basing, shipbuilding and repair. The outfitting quay and the oblique quay, between Bassin 9 and the Laninon groyne and served by cranes, are used for pre-launch fitting-out of ships built at Brest — among them the amphibious assault ships Mistral and Tonnerre — for the berthing of the larger units of the Marine Nationale, and for afloat maintenance of all vessel types. The graving docks are grouped in two areas: the Pontaniou docks on the Penfeld, converted at the turn of the twentieth century into Basins 2 and 3, and the Salou and Laninon basins, the latter including the construction docks and dry dock excavated between 1910 and 1916. Aircraft-carrier locks were added in 1969–1970. The roadstead is sheltered by the South Jetty, built from 1889 and later extended, and by the West Jetty. Within the military enclosure the Penfeld is lined with quays, but exposed rock heads prevent ships lying directly alongside; floating stages moored fore and aft, chiefly on the left bank, form berths served by the large crane installed in 1910. Downstream of the Pont de Recouvrance these berths take the Navy's sail training ships, arsenal tugs and support craft, and the transrade passenger vessels running across the rade de Brest to the Crozon peninsula, serving Île Longue and the École Navale.

Port infrastructure was first laid out from 1631 to 1635, with docks added at Troulan in 1683 and at Pontaniou in 1746. The Penfeld was closed to commercial shipping in 1865, making it a purely military port. A submarine base was built in 1940 during the German occupation, and the basins and jetties were reworked after 1945, the jetty being enlarged in 1963–1964.