Editing Cherbourg (section)

==Military life==
{{main|Cherbourg Naval Base}}
[[File:Abeille Liberté.jpg|thumb|right|Arrival of the ''[[Abeille Liberté]]'' at Cherbourg-Octeville.]]
During the Middle Ages, Cherbourg, a stronghold of the Cotentin peninsula, was home to a small garrison for the protection of the fortress. With the implementation of the harbour and military port, Cherbourg became a port of war at the end of the 18th century, with a large garrison. In 1798, it had 1,332 men, or a tenth of the population, divided mainly between the barracks of the Abbey, current historical Service of the Navy, which housed 542 men of the 4th brigade and the Maurice Quarter, in the ''Hôtel Epron de la Horie'', home to 227 men.<ref>{{citation|title=Il était une fois Cherbourg : le Dragon et la prostituée|work=La Manche libre|date=16 February 2008}}</ref> Numbers were brought to 3,000 men for the completion of the work, by a decree of germinal year XI.

During the 20th century, Cherbourg, a strategic point during both world wars, adapted to new threats. It then hosted a large garrison of the Navy, an artillery regiment and a ''Hôpital des Armées'' known locally as "marine hospital". In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the presence of the army weakened by the transfer of the northern fleet to Brest and the closure of the maritime hospital renamed René-Le-Bas.

Yet Cherbourg remained a base of the first order of the [[French Navy|National Navy]], as the seat of the {{Interlanguage link|Maritime Prefecture of Manche and the North Sea|fr|3=Préfecture maritime de la Manche et la mer du Nord}} and of the Maritime Gendarmerie grouping of Manche. The naval base is the homeport of five patrol vessels of the Navy and the coastguard, group of the clearance divers sleeve and its building-base the [[Vulcain (M611)|''Vulcain'']], the tug ''[[Abeille Liberté]]'' and various support vessels. It is also the headquarters of the Operational Training of Surveillance and Territorial Information of Cherbourg (Cherbourg FOSIT) which brings together thirteen semaphores and the lookout of the maritime district. In addition, a flotilla 35 F [[Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin|Dauphin]] helicopter is based at [[Cherbourg – Maupertus Airport]]. The operation of the military port is borne by the directions of the Commissioner of the Navy, maritime works and information systems of the Navy, as well as the branch of the support service of the fleet and the military workshop of the Cherbourg fleet.<ref name="accueil">{{cite web|url=http://www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/content/download/44361/442761/file/accueil%20cherbourg%202007.pdf|title=Marine Cherbourg : guide d'accueil|work=Ministère de la Défense|year=2007|access-date=17 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091104210213/http://www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/content/download/44361/442761/file/accueil%20cherbourg%202007.pdf|archive-date=4 November 2009|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Cherbourg is also a training hub of the armed forces through the {{Interlanguage link|School of Military Applications of Atomic Energy|fr|3=École des applications militaires de l'énergie atomique}} (EAMEA), in charge of the joint education of military specialists in material sciences, of techniques and of nuclear safety and the ''École des fourriers de [[Querqueville]]'', devoted to education of the officers of the three armed forces in business administration, management, human resources and the restoration to the training of specialists of the restoration of the national gendarmerie and the homes of the Navy staff.

Proposals for reform on the organization and the distribution of the French Army, presented in the spring of 2008 in the [[2008 French White Paper on Defence and National Security|White Paper on Defence and National Security]] planned in the context of the [[French General Review of Public Policies]] raise the concern of civilian personnel of the defence of the city, including the {{Interlanguage link|List of submarines built at Cherbourg|fr|3=Liste des sous-marins construits à Cherbourg|lt=construction of submarines}}. According to projects, Cherbourg-Octeville would become one of 90 defence bases around 2010. In a pooling of means and the establishment of support for the armed forces, the city would retain military and civilian activities, and would host new regiments for the army and of the air force to constitute one of the largest bases of defence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cherbourg.maville.com/La-carte-militaire-epargne-Cherbourg-/re/actudet/actu_loc-674952------_actu.html|title=La carte militaire épargne Cherbourg|work=Ouest-France|date=25 July 2008|access-date=17 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080730115909/http://www.cherbourg.maville.com/La-carte-militaire-epargne-Cherbourg-/re/actudet/actu_loc-674952------_actu.html|archive-date=30 July 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, the Navy in Cherbourg-Octeville would lose 220 jobs, including civilians, through including the division of half of the staff of the Directorate of maritime works, the abolition of 30 posts including 5 civilians in the ''École des fourriers'' and the Atomic school, the loss of 27 posts including 14 civilians in the direction of information systems, and the disarmament of the ''Vulcain'', ''Acharné'', ''Coralline'' and ''Élan''. National orders for [[DCNS (company)|DCNS]] could be spread over several years, also reducing human needs there, especially among the subcontractors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cherbourg.maville.com/La-Marine-devra-encore-se-serrer-la-ceinture-/re/actudet/actu_loc-705199------_actu.html|title=La Marine devra encore se serrer la ceinture|work=Ouest-France|date=17 September 2008|access-date=17 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922165210/http://www.cherbourg.maville.com/La-Marine-devra-encore-se-serrer-la-ceinture-/re/actudet/actu_loc-705199------_actu.html|archive-date=22 September 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Several military units were stationed at Cherbourg during the 20th century:

*{{Interlanguage link|8th Infantry Regiment (France)|fr|3=8e régiment d'infanterie|lt=8th Infantry Regiment}}, 1939 - 1940
*{{Interlanguage link|25th Infantry Regiment (France)|fr|3=25e régiment d'infanterie|lt=25th Infantry Regiment}}, 1870 - 1914
*{{Interlanguage link|119th Infantry Regiment (France)|fr|3=119e régiment d'infanterie|lt=119th Infantry Regiment}},
*[[77th Territorial Infantry Regiment (France)|77th Territorial Infantry Regiment]], 1870 - 1914
*{{Interlanguage link|2nd Artillery Regiment (France)|fr|3=2e régiment d'artillerie (France)|lt=2nd Artillery Regiment of Foot}}, 1914
*[[1st Marine Artillery Regiment]], 1906
*{{Interlanguage link|2nd Colonial Artillery Regiment (France)|fr|3=2e régiment d'artillerie coloniale|lt=2nd Colonial Artillery Regiment}}, 1906
*{{Interlanguage link|5th Colonial Artillery Regiment (France)|fr|3=5e régiment d'artillerie coloniale|lt=5th Colonial Artillery Regiment}}, 1906