Charles de Gaulle (R 91)

"Charles de Gaulle" (R91) is the only serving French aircraft carrier and is the flagship of the French Navy ("Marine Nationale"). She is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the first nuclear-powered carrier built outside of the United States Navy. She is named after French statesman and general Charles de Gaulle.

The ship carries a complement of Dassault Rafale M and E-2C Hawkeye, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles. She is the second largest European carrier, after the "Admiral Kuznetsov". It is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses the same catapult system as that installed on the US "Nimitz" class carriers, the 75 m C13-3 steam catapult.

Development

Construction

The carrier replaced "Foch", a conventionally-powered aircraft carrier, in 2001. "Clemenceau" and "Foch" were completed in 1961 and 1963 respectively; the requirement for a replacement was identified in the mid-1970s.

The hull was laid down in April 1989 at the DCNS Brest naval shipyard. The carrier was completed in May 1994 and at 35,500 tonnes was the largest warship launched in Western Europe since 1951.Fact|date=May 2007 She was to be named "Richelieu" in 1986 by the French president at the time, François Mitterrand, after the famous French politician Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal and Duc de Richelieu (following a traditional name for capital ships in the French Navy, see battleship "Richelieu" for instance). fr [http://www.senat.fr/rap/r99-358/r99-3583.html senat.fr] ] On 7 February 1987, however, after a ferocious row, the name of the ship was changed to "Charles de Gaulle" by the Gaullist Prime Minister at the time, Jacques Chirac.

Construction quickly fell behind schedule as the project was starved of funding, which was worsened by the economic recession in the early 1990s.Fact|date=February 2007 Total costs for the vessel would top €3 billion. Work on the ship was suspended altogether on four occasions: 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1995. The ship was commissioned on 18 May 2001, five years behind the projected deadline.

pying incident

In 1993, a group of MI6 officers posing as engineers were discovered inspecting the vessel during its construction. It is believed that they were evaluating the method of shielding the nuclear reactors. [cite news | first = Paul | last = Webster | coauthors = Norton-Taylor, Richard | title = French Foil MI6 Carrier Snoop | work = The Guardian
publisher = Guardian Newspapers Ltd. | page = 1 | date = 1993-08-23 | accessdate = 2006-11-28]

Trials and technical problems

"Charles de Gaulle" entered sea trials in 1999. These identified the need to extend the flight deck to safely operate the E-2C Hawkeye. This operation sparked negative publicity, however, as the same tests had been conducted on both "Foch" and "Clemenceau" when the F-8E(FN) Crusader fighter had been introduced. The 5 million francs for the extension was 0.025% of the total budget for "Charles de Gaulle" project.

On 28 February 2000, a nuclear reactor trial triggered the combustion of additional isolation elements, producing a smoke incident.

During the night of 9 November 2000, in the Western Atlantic while en route toward Norfolk, Virginia, the port propeller broke and the ship had to return to Toulon to replace the faulty element. The investigations that followed showed similar structural faults in the other propeller and in the spare propellers: bubbles in the one-piece copper-aluminium alloy propellers near the center. The fault was blamed on the supplier, Atlantic Industries, which had already gone bankrupt. To make matters worse, all documents relating to the design and fabrication of the propellers had been lost in a fire. As a temporary solution, the less advanced spare propellers of "Clemenceau" and "Foch" were used, limiting the maximum speed to 24 knots (44 km/h) instead of the contractual 27 knots (50 km/h). This did not affect air operations.

On 5 March 2001, "Charles de Gaulle" went back to sea with two older propellers and sailed 25.2 knots (47 km/h) on her trials. Between July and October, "Charles de Gaulle" had to be refitted once more due to abnormal noises, as loud as 100 dB, near the starboard propeller, which had rendered the aft part of the ship uninhabitable.

On 8 November 2001, a sailor performing a routine maintenance task lost consciousness due to a toxic gas leak. A non-commissioned officer attempted to rescue him and collapsed as well. They were immediately rescued by the on-board medical team and sent to Toulon Hospital. Both survived.

Active service

Refitting

On 16 September 2001, the French press reported slightly higher than acceptable radioactivity levels aboard "Charles de Gaulle", thought to be caused by a faulty isolation element. It was later discovered that the radioactivity levels were normal, but that the regulations concerning acceptable radioactivity levels had changed. While the United States was preparing its response to the September 11, 2001 attacks in the form of Operation Enduring Freedom, the media complained about the lack of deployable French military power. At the same time, the Defence Commission reported the maintenance of the Fleet to be substandard. In this context, "Charles de Gaulle", then under repairs, was again an object of criticism, with former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing describing it as a "half-aircraft-carrier".

Link 16

On 11 October 2001, the frigate "Cassard", four AWACS aircraft and "Charles de Gaulle" were involved in a successful trial of the Link 16 high-bandwidth secure data network. The network allows real-time monitoring of the airspace from the South of England to the Mediterranean Sea. The collected data were also transmitted in real time to the "Jean Bart" through the older Link 11 system.

Afghanistan

On 21 November 2001, France decided to send "Charles de Gaulle" to the Indian Ocean in support of Operation Enduring Freedom against Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Task Force 473, with 2,900 men under the command of Contre-Amiral François Cluzel, sailed on 1 December. The task force was comprised of "Charles de Gaulle", frigates "La Motte-Picquet", "Jean de Vienne" and "Jean Bart", the nuclear attack submarine "Rubis", the tanker "Meuse" and the aviso "Commandant Ducuing".

Embarked air power comprised sixteen Super Étendards, one E-2C Hawkeye, two Rafale Ms and several helicopters. The Super Étendards carried out their first missions above Afghanistan on 19 December, executing reconnaissance and bombing missions, covering over 3,000 kilometres. Overall they carried out 140 missions, averaging 12 every day, dodging five Stinger missiles.On 18 February 2002, a Helios observation satellite spotted abnormal activities near Gardez. The next day, after American Special Forces in the region confirmed these observations, "Charles de Gaulle" launched two reconnaissance Super Étendards. On 20 February, British and US forces entered the valley and Operation Anaconda began in early March.

In March, Super Étendards and six Mirage 2000 aircraft carried out airstrikes against targets claimed to be al Qaeda. A few targets suggested by US forces were denied out of fear of hitting civilians. Nevertheless, French involvement was complimented on 11 March 2002 by US President George W. Bush, who mentioned "our good ally, France, has deployed nearly one-fourth of its navy to support Operation Enduring Freedom". [" [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020311-1.html President Thanks World Coalition for Anti-Terrorism Efforts] ", The White House, March 11, 2002. Retrieved December 31, 2006.] At this point, the French air complement had been increased to 16 Super Étendards, 6 Mirage 2000 D, 5 Rafales, and two Hawkeye AWACS. From February, the air wings of "Charles de Gaulle" and USS "John C. Stennis" landed on each other's decks as a means of strengthening the ties between the allies.

On 2 May, "Charles de Gaulle" arrived in Singapore for relief and returned to Oman on 18 May.

Indian-Pakistani crisis

In June 2002, according to several reports, [http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/07/04/stories/2002070407221200.htm `French jets patrolled Indo-Pak. coastline'] "The Hindu", Retrieved November 3, 2006] [http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE5-1/narayanan.html Has Pakistan Lost Its Nuclear Weapons?] "Bharat Rakshak Monitor", Retrieved November 3, 2006] while "Charles de Gaulle" was in the Arabian Sea, armed Rafale fighters participated in interposition patrols near the India-Pakistan border, marking a significant point in the Rafale M's operational career and its integration with the carrier. A number of sources have speculated on the exact nature and purpose of these flights.From "En Garde!" (August 2002) in the "Journal of Electronic Defense", "It is fitting for the oft-delayed development of the Rafale fighter that the aircraft literally missed the boat. It was not until February 14, after 70 days at sea, that five Rafale Ms landed on the deck of "Charles de Gaulle". On March 9, two more came aboard, joining the 16 modernized Super Étendards that they are designed to eventually replace.

The Ministry of Defense curbed enthusiasts by pointing out the squadron was not certified for combat and that the Etendards were performing all close-air-support and carrier-based reconnaissance missions. Yet on returning to home port July 4, the "Charles de Gaulle"'s commander, Captain Richard Laborde, announced that on June 9 the Rafales, armed with Magic 2 air-to-air missiles, set off on a joint patrol with American fighters. He termed it, precisely, a combat mission, although the assignment was for reconnaissance over the tense India-Pakistan border."]

Rescue mission

On 9 October, the "CrossMed" (Regional Operational Center for Monitoring and Rescue in Mediterranean Sea) received a distress call on the 8-metre "Babolin", whose hull was leaking. "Charles de Gaulle", on maneuvers in the region, sent a helicopter that airlifted the three-man crew, despite convert|35|kn|km/h|0|sing=on wind, troubled sea, and bad visibility.

Continuing operations

"Charles de Gaulle" participated in further actions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2005. It returned to Southwest Asia in May 2006 and shortly after supported coalition efforts over Afghanistan. The aircraft carrier regularly participates in the annual bilateral naval exercises between the Indian and French navies [cite news | first = Sandeep | last = Dikshit | title = Indian, French navies plan exercises from Monday | url = http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/26/stories/2006032601271500.htm | work = The Hindu | publisher = | date =2006-03-26 | accessdate =2006-11-01 ] called 'Varuna'. [cite news | title = Indo-French Joint Naval Exercise 'Varuna 06' | url = http://indiannavy.nic.in/pres03.htm | work = | publisher = Indian Navy | date = 2006-03-24 | accessdate = 2006-11-01 ]

First major overhaul

"Charles de Gaulle"'s first major overhaul began in September 2007. The highlight of this 15-month refit will be the refueling of the nuclear powerplant, a necessary step after 6 years in service, during which "Charles de Gaulle" sailed the equivalent of 12 times around the world, spent 900 days at sea, and performed 19,000 catapult launches. [" [www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/content/download/100314/884733/version/1/file/071210%2BDP.pdf Entretien et Modernisation du Charles de Gaulle] " (PDF). French Navy Press Release'. Retrieved May 22, 2008] Several improvements will also be made, including the installation of new propellers. These will allow the "Charles de Gaulle" to reach its design speed of 27 knots, replacing the vintage propellers used as a stop-gap since 2001. Aircraft maintenance and weapons stores will also be upgraded to allow operation of new Rafale F3 fighters armed with ASMP-A nuclear missiles and SCALP EG cruise missiles, and satellite communications bandwidth will be increased tenfold. The refit will be completed in November 2008, after which an intensive work-up period is planned to bring the "Charles de Gaulle" and its airgroup back to operational status.

Integration in the future navy

The French Navy is usually a two-carrier navy, mainly to ensure that at least one ship is operational at all times even if the other is under repair. This scheme calls for another aircraft carrier to be built.

Cost considerations have made equipment standardization a necessity. In this context, there is a possibility of collaboration between Britain and France for future carriers. It is possible that the new ship series could be built on the British design, incorporating the recent experience with "Charles de Gaulle". Steps have been taken to make such a scenario possible: the new carrier had to be conventionally propelled to meet the cost requirements of the Royal Navy, and while the French Navy favoured a nuclear design, French President Jacques Chirac declared at the end of 2004 that the next French carrier would use a gas turbine engine.

Gallery

ee also

* List of aircraft carriers
* List of naval ship classes in service
* List of ship commissionings in 2001
* Future French aircraft carrier

References

External links

* [http://www.alabordache.fr/marine/espacemarine/marine/charlesdegaulle/index.php "Charles de Gaulle" Aircraft Carrier] 'on Alabordache