Fort-de-France Naval Base (Fort Royal)

Fort Saint Louis is the French Navy's base at Fort-de-France, Martinique, and the seat of COMAR ANTILLES, the command held by a capitaine de vaisseau responsible for French naval and naval air forces in the Caribbean. The base occupies a rocky peninsula on the edge of Fort-de-France Bay, overlooking the anchorage of the island's capital.

Forces homeported at Fort Saint Louis include the Floréal-class surveillance frigates Ventôse (F733) and Germinal (F735), the patrol and support vessel Dumont d'Urville (A624), and the Confiance-class patrol vessel La Combattante (P735). The base supports maritime surveillance and patrol tasking across the French Antilles.

The active naval enclave within the fort contains the administrative buildings of the base and the naval construction service. Associated installations outside the fort include the radio station at Pointe des Sables, ammunition storage facilities at the end of Fort-de-France, and the Rivière Salée station some 20 km distant.

The site has carried fortifications since 1638, when Jacques Dyel du Parquet ordered a stronghold built to cover the roadstead; the work was rebuilt from 1669 to a Vauban-type design and enlarged under the comte de Blénac. Between 1850 and 1896 the French installed artillery at the fort and at Pointe des Nègres to cover the bay. The fort subsequently passed to naval use, and the seaward portion remains closed as a working base while the remainder is a listed historic site.