Arsenal de Rochefort, Naval base and shipyard in Rochefort, France

The Arsenal de Rochefort is a former French naval base and dockyard founded in 1665 and closed in 1926. Its entrance is a tall pale stone gate with a central arch, flanked by two solid pillars and topped by a flat entablature carved with wreaths and small reliefs; the words ARSENAL MARITIME are inscribed above a narrow cornice, and a black metal grid fills the archway. Within the site, a long dry rectangular basin with tiered concrete walls holds the rust-brown iron hull of a ship, its skeletal ribs exposed, resting in a channel of green water.

The arsenal was founded in 1665 and served for centuries as a major French naval center. Its operations ended in the early 1900s as naval technology and military needs transformed.

The arsenal's name survives in the Porte de l'Arsenal, the stone gate carved ARSENAL MARITIME that visitors pass on the town side. In the dry basin beside it, a rust-brown iron ship hull rests on the concrete floor, its ribs exposed and green algae spreading across the bottom. The site holds the Grand Site de France label awarded in 2020 to the Charente estuary and arsenal.

The site lies along the Charente in Rochefort, and the entrance gate on the town side is the Porte de l'Arsenal, a stone arch inscribed ARSENAL MARITIME. In the dry basin, a rusted iron ship hull rests on the floor among algae and grass, reached by short flights of steps in the concrete wall. The arsenal holds the label Grand Site de France since 2020.

The Corderie Royale, built between 1666 and 1669 on Louis XIV's orders, was then the longest building in Europe; it made the cordage for French warships until that work stopped in 1867. Its length followed from the rope-walks: strands had to be stretched in a straight line before twisting.