Escal'Atlantic

The arrondissement of Saint-Nazaire is an arrondissement of France in the Loire-Atlantique department in the Pays de la Loire region. It has 55 communes. Its population is 327,907 (2016), and its area is 1,758.1 km2 (678.8 sq mi).

Communauté d'agglomération de la Région Nazairienne et de l'Estuaire (CARENE) is an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Saint-Nazaire. It is located in the Loire-Atlantique department, in the Pays de la Loire region, western France. It was created in December 2000. Its seat is in Saint-Nazaire. Its area is 320.3 km2. Its population was 124,487 in 2017, of which 69,993 in Saint-Nazaire proper.

The Louis Joubert Lock (French: Forme Ecluse Louis Joubert), also known as the Normandie Dock, is a lock and major dry dock located in the port of Saint-Nazaire in Loire-Atlantique, northwestern France. Owned by the Port authority of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, its strategic importance as a major naval construction and maintenance asset since its completion in 1934 resulted in it becoming the main target of the British Army Commando raid of 1942, the St. Nazaire Raid, to stop German battleships such as Tirpitz from accessing maintenance facilities while operating in the Atlantic Ocean.

Espadon was a Narval-class submarine of the French Navy. Along with sister boat Marsouin, the boat was the first French submarine to steam under sea ice. The boat is currently a museum ship.

The submarine base of Saint-Nazaire is one of five large fortified U-boat pens built by Germany during the Second World War in occupied Saint-Nazaire, France.

USS Buchanan (DD-131), named for Franklin Buchanan, was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy. Buchanan was transferred to the United Kingdom under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement in 1940 and served as HMS Campbeltown (I42). She was destroyed during the St. Nazaire Raid: at 1:34 on 28 March 1942, loaded with four tons of amatol explosive, the ship rammed the gates of the Forme Ecluse Louis Joubert dry dock. The ship exploded the following morning, ending the use of the dock for the rest of the war.

HMS Campbeltown was a Town-class destroyer of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was originally US destroyer USS Buchanan, and was one of 50 obsolescent U.S. Navy destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy in 1940 as part of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. Campbeltown became one of the most famous of these ships when she was used in the St Nazaire Raid in 1942.

The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) and British Commandos under the auspices of Combined Operations Headquarters on 28 March 1942. St Nazaire was targeted because the loss of its dry dock would force any large German warship in need of repairs, such as Tirpitz, sister ship of Bismarck, to return to home waters by running the gauntlet of the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy and other British forces, via the English Channel or the North Sea. The obsolete destroyer HMS Campbeltown, accompanied by 18 smaller craft, crossed the English Channel to the Atlantic coast of France and rammed into the Normandie dry dock south gate. The ship had been packed with delayed-action explosives, well hidden within a steel and concrete case, that detonated later that day, putting the dock out of service until 1948. A force of commandos landed to destroy machinery and other structures. German gunfire sank, set ablaze, or immobilized virtually all the small craft intended to transport the commandos back to England. The commandos fought their way through the town to escape overland but many surrendered when they ran out of ammunition or were surrounded by the Wehrmacht defending Saint-Nazaire. Of the 612 men who undertook the raid, 228 returned to Britain, 169 were killed and 215 became prisoners of war. German casualties included over 360 dead, some of whom were killed after the raid when Campbeltown exploded. To recognise their bravery, 89 members of the raiding party were awarded decorations, including five Victoria Crosses. After the war, St Nazaire was one of 38 battle honours awarded to the commandos. The operation has been called "the greatest raid of all" in British military circles.

The Saint-Nazaire Pocket (German: Festung St. Nazaire, French: Poche de Saint-Nazaire) was an Atlantic pocket that existed from August 1944 until 11 May 1945 and was formed by the withdrawal of German troops from Loire-Inférieure (now Loire-Atlantique) during the liberation of the department by the allied forces. It was centred around the port and the submarine base of Saint-Nazaire and extended to the east as far as Saint-Omer-de-Blain and from La Roche-Bernard in the north to Pornic in the south.

The canton of Saint-Nazaire-2 is an administrative division of the Loire-Atlantique department, western France. It was created at the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in Saint-Nazaire.It consists of the following communes: Besné Donges Montoir-de-Bretagne Saint-Malo-de-Guersac Saint-Nazaire (partly) Trignac

Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire river and the deep waters of the Atlantic, which make the sailing of large ships in and out of the shipyards easy. The shipyard was owned by Alstom from 1976 onwards, became Alstom-Atlantique, and was later part of Aker Yards when Aker Group acquired the Alstom Marine business in 2006. In 2008, the South Korean company STX Corporation acquired Aker Yards, and the shipyard became part of STX Europe (formed by the renaming of Aker Yards).After the bankruptcy of STX Corporation, the shipyard was acquired by the French government and reverted to its original name of Chantiers de l'Atlantique.

The Gare de Saint-Nazaire is the passenger railway station serving the French town and port of Saint-Nazaire. Designed by Noël Le Maresquier with a functional and maritime style, it was built in 1955 in anticipation of the arrival of the TGV Atlantique and replaced an older station in the town developed in the 19th century by the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans railway. Located to the north of the town, to make access easier there is a bridge linking the station to the main town centre.Its design has come in for some local criticism in 2008, as well as its state of upkeep. SNCF have promised various levels of maintenance and development, particularly to assist disabled passengers and make a better impression on visitors to the town. Access to the station by foot or car is currently difficult, due to associated and local redevelopment.The shell of the old station, now a performing arts theatre, is located further south, adjacent to the Port of Saint Nazaire. It is also noted for being the site of one of the most incredible survival stories of WW2. On January 3, 1943, US Airman Alan Magee fell from his crippled B-17, without a parachute, from a height 20,000 feet. He crashed through the glass ceiling of the train station, which slowed his fall enough to allow him to survive upon hitting the floor below.