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The 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 the French statesman and general, Charles de Gaulle. Her complement of Dassault Rafale and E-2 Hawkeye, as well as state-of-the-art electronics and Aster missiles, give her offensive power unseen before in France. She is the second largest, after ''Admiral Kuznetsov'', and arguably the most powerful European aircraft carrier, at least until the introduction of the Franco-British future carriers.• It is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses the same catapult system as that installed on the ''Nimitz''-class carriers, the 75 m C13-3 steam catapult. Construction The carrier replaced the Foch, a conventionally powered aircraft carrier, in 2001. The 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 DCN Brest Naval shipyard. The carrier was completed in May 1994 and at 35,500 tonnes was the largest warship launched in Western Europe since the HMS Ark Royal in 1950. She was 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). In 1989, however, after a ferocious row, the ship was renamed to Charles De Gaulle the year after 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. 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 2001-05-18, five years behind the projected deadline. Spying 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. Trials and technical problems
Refitting On 16 September, 2001, the French press reported slightly higher than acceptable radioactivity levels aboard the 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 9/11 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, the 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
Afghanistan: Mission Héracles On 21 November, 2001, France decided to send the Charles De Gaulle to the Indian Ocean in support of Operation Enduring Freedom against Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Task Force 473, with 2900 men under the command of Contre-Amiral François Cluzel, sailed on 1 December. The task force was comprised of the nuclear aircraft carrier 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 16 Super Étendards, one E-2C Hawkeye, two Rafales and several helicopters. Super Étendard aircraft 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, the Charles De Gaulle launched two reconnaissance Super Étendards. On the 20th, 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 by the US President George W. Bush on 2002-03-11, mentioning "our good ally, France, who deployed a quarter of her Navy in Operation Enduring Freedom". 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 Charles De Gaulle and the USS John C. Stennis exchanged a few aircraft as a means of strengthening the ties between the allies. On 2 May, the Charles De Gaulle arrived in Singapore for relief and returned to Oman on 18 May. At the same time, tensions began to increase over the question of Iraq. Vice-Admiral François Cluzel declared before the press: "France is opposed to any military action against Iraq. Should anything of this nature be undertaken, we would be unlikely to be part of the coalition." Indian-Pakistani crisis In June 2002, according to several reports, while the 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's operational career and its integration with the carrier. A number of sources have speculated on the exact nature and purpose of these flights. Rescue mission On 9 October, the CrossMed (Regional Operational Centre for Monitoring and Rescue in Mediterranean Sea) received a distress call on the 8-metre Babolin, whose hull was leaking. The Charles De Gaulle, on manoeuvers in the region, sent a helicopter that airlifted the three-man crew, despite 35-knot wind, troubled sea, and bad visibility. Continuing operations The 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• called 'Varuna'.• 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 standardisation 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 the 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. See also Pictures Image:Tape_pa_charles_de_gaulle.jpg|Tampion of the Charles De Gaulle Image:FS CDG bridge.jpg|Command bridge on the Charles De Gaulle Image:FS CDG bridge2.jpg|Aviation bridge on the Charles De Gaulle Image:FS CDG bridge3.jpg|Command bridge of the Charles De Gaulle Image:FS CDG aster.jpg|Aster 15 SYLVER launchers on the Charles De Gaulle Image:FS CdG Optics.jpg|Landing optics of the Charles De Gaulle Image:FS CdG Dauphin.jpg|Dauphin rescue helicopter on the deck of the Charles De Gaulle Image:FS CdG Rafale.jpg|Rafale number 9 on the launching deck of the Charles De Gaulle Image:FS CdG Super Etendard.jpg|A Super-Étendard in the hangar deck of the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier Image:FS CdG Super Hawkeye.jpg|A Hawkeye airborne early warning plane on the flight deck of the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier (5th of June 2004) | |||||||||||
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