The French Navy is undertaking a significant reinforcement, both in modernising and in number, under the Projet de loi de programmation militaire 2003-2008 ("Military programme law project 2003-2008")*
, which notably calls for:

A second aircraft carrier to be delivered before 2015, the start of a scheduled repair and maintenance period for the nuclear powered Charles De Gaulle. The new carrier will be built in cooperation with a British program for two 65,000 ton conventionally-powered aircraft carriers, with alterations to best fit French needs and better benefit from French construction capabilities.

2 ''Horizon'' units that are now under construction;

17 FREMM multipurpose frigates - 8 should be ordered between 2003 and 2008, the first commissioning being expected for 2008.

6 nuclear attack submarines of the ''Barracuda'' class - the first commissioning being expected for 2017

New models of the successful Exocet missile

MBDA Aster and SYLVER launcher systems for anti-missile/anti-air defence

Cruise missiles (the naval or submarine ''SCALP EG'')

The following are the ranks of the French National Navy. Firstly, the proper French term is used, with an English translation that follows the Royal Navy/Canadian Navy ranking systems.

The history of the French Navy goes back to the Middle Ages, when it was defeated by the English at the Battle of Sluys and, with Castilian help, managed to beat the English at La Rochelle.

The Navy became a consistent instrument of national power around the seventeenth century with Louis XIV. Under the tutelage of the "Sun King," the French Navy was well financed and equipped, managing to score several early victories in the Nine Years War against the Royal Navy and the Dutch Navy. Financial troubles, however, forced the navy back to port and allowed the English and the Dutch to regain the initiative. Before the Nine Years War, in the Franco-Dutch War, it managed to score a decisive victory over a combined Spanish-Dutch fleet at the Battle of Palermo.

The eighteenth century saw the beginning of Royal Navy domination, which managed to inflict a number of significant defeats on the French. However, the French Navy continued to score various successes, as in the campaigns led in the Atlantic by Picquet de la Motte. In 1766, Bougainville led the first French circumnavigation.


During the American War of Independence the French Navy played a decisive role in supporting the American side. The French Navy was the only standing navy to fight the British, alongside the modest Continental and American state navies and American privateers. In a very impressive effort, the French under de Grasse managed to defeat an English fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781, thus ensuring that the Franco-American ground forces would win the ongoing Battle of Yorktown.


In India, Suffren managed impressive campaings against the British (1770-1780), successfully contending for supremacy against Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes.

The French Revolution, in eliminating numerous officers of noble lineage (among them, Charles d'Estaing), all but crippled the French Navy. Efforts to make it into a powerful force under Napoleon were dashed by the death of Latouche Tréville in 1804, and the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, where the British all but annihilated a combined Franco-Spanish fleet. The disaster guaranteed British naval domination until World War II.

The only French Naval victory against the British during the Napoleonic Wars was the 1810 Battle of Grand Port, won by Admiral Duperré.

In the nineteenth century, the navy recovered and became the second finest in the world after the Royal Navy. It conducted a successful blockade of Mexico in the Pastry War of 1838 and obliterated the Chinese navy at the Battle of Foochow in 1884. It also served as an effective link between the growing parts of the French empire. The French Navy, eager to challenge British naval supremacy, took a leadership role in many areas of warship development, with the introduction of new technologies.

France led the development of shell guns for the Navy, with its invention by Henri-Joseph Paixhans

In 1850, Le Napoléon became the first steam-powered battleship in history.

La Gloire became the first seagoing ironclad in history when she was launched in 1853.

In 1863, the French Navy launched Plongeur, the first submarine in the world to be propelled by mechanical power.

In 1876, the Redoutable became the first steel-hulled warship ever.

The invention of the seaplane in 1910 with the French Le Canard led to the earliest development of ships designed to carry airplanes, albeit equipped with floats. In 1911 appears the French Navy La Foudre, the first seaplane carrier. She was commissioned as a seaplane tender, and carried float-equipped planes under hangars on the main deck, from where they were lowered on the sea with a crane. La Foudre was further modified in November 1913 with a 10 metre flat deck to launch her seaplanes.

Every naval fleet consists of a variety of ships of different sizes, and no fleet has enough resources to make every vessel supreme in its class. Nonetheless, different countries strive to excel in particular classes. Between the world wars, the French fleet was remarkable in its building of small numbers of ships that were "over the top" with relation to their equivalents of other powers.

For example, the French chose to build "super-destroyers" which were deemed during the Second World War by the Allies as the equivalent of light cruisers. The Le Fantasque class of destroyer is still the world's fastest class of destroyer. The Surcouf submarine was the largest and most powerful of its day.

But the French did not or could not build supreme examples of every category. When the Germans came out with the so-called pocket battleships, the French responded with a class of two ships of the Dunkerque type, with guns just powerful and numerous to defeat them, not full-size battleships of the day.

At the outset of the war, the French Navy participated in a number of operations against the Axis Powers, patrolling the Atlantic and bombarding Genoa. The French surrender and its armistice terms, however, completely changed the situation: the French fleet immediately withdrew from the fight.

The British perceived the French fleet as a potentially lethal threat, should the French become formal enemies or, more likely, should the German Kriegsmarine gain control. It was essential that they should be put out of action. Some vessels were in British-controlled ports in Britain or Egypt and these were either persuaded to re-join the Allies as Free French ships or were boarded and disarmed.

The bulk of the fleet, however, was in Dakar or Mers-el-Kebir. The Royal Navy delivered an ultimatum but, when agreement proved impossible, they opened fire and sunk or damaged much of the French fleet (Operation Catapult) on 3 July 1940. The action soured Anglo-French relations and inhibited further defections to the Allies.


In November, 1942, the Allies invaded French North Africa. In response, the Germans occupied (Case Anton) Vichy France, including the French naval port of Toulon, where the main part of the surviving French fleet lay. This was a major German objective and forces under SS command had been detailed to capture them (Operation Lila). French naval authorities were divided on their response: Amiral Jean de Laborde, the commander of the Forces de Haute Mer (the High Seas Fleet) advocated sailing to attack the Allied invasion fleet while others, such as the Vichy Secretary of the Navy, Contre-Amiral Auphan favoured joining the Allies. On several warships, there were spontaneous demonstrations in favour of sailing with the Allies, chanting "Vive de Gaulle! Appareillage!".

The orders to French commanders to scuttle their ships in case of an attempted take-over had been reinforced, however, and, often despite the presence of German troops, this was done, in the Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon. No capital ships and few others were taken in reparable condition *. A few ships fled Toulon and joined the Allies, notably the submarine Casabianca.

Following this, more French moved to the Allies, including ships interned in Egypt, and there were French warships supporting the landings in southern France (Operation Dragoon) and Normandy (Operation Neptune).