[2] The word rade comes from the old English term 'Road,' "a protected place near shore, not so enclosed as a harbour, where ships can ride at anchor.".

The shipyard was greatly enlarged by Cardinal Richelieu, who wished to make France into a Mediterranean naval power.

Power for the ropemaking was provided by convicts from the adjoining prison, the Bagne de Toulon, who walked in an enormous treadmill.

From the late 19th century it was this shipyard that built France's first ironclad frigates then the world's first modern submarines.

The Arsenal was badly damaged by Allied bombing in World War II, but since has been reconstructed and modernised.

The south arsenal is accessed by the small slipway of Le Mourillon beside the now-disappeared torpedo factory.

The military bases possesses more than 30 km of roads, railway level crossings, traffic lights, signs, etc..

It also has an SNCF rail line running from the station at La Seyne-sur-Mer to the docks via its storage sheds.