Paimbœuf is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, lying on the south bank of the River Loire upriver from St Nazaire but considerably downriver from Nantes. In the Napoleonic era it was the site of considerable naval shipbuilding. The United States Navy established a naval air station there on 1 March 1918 to operate dirigibles during World War I. The base closed shortly after the First Armistice at Compiègne.