French ship Laplace (A 793)

Laplace is a hydrographic survey ship of the French Navy, third of the Lapérouse-class survey ships.

Career
In 1999, Laplace surveyed the Persian Gulf, retrieving samples from the sea floor under 3000 metres of water.

In 2004, she took part in an anti-drug operation leading to the capture of 2 tonnes of cocaine.

In 2016, after the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804, Laplace was dispatched to search for the black boxes of the aircraft. She departed her base of Porto-Vecchio, in Corsica, on 27 May and arrived at the search area by 31 May. On 1 June Laplace detected a signal from one of the black box recorders.