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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 first French Nuclear -powered surface vessel and the tenth carrier in the history of the French 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 will remain the largest and most powerful European aircraft carrier at least until the introduction of the United Kingdom's Future Carriers or any upgrade of the Russia n Kuznetsov , and is the world's only non-American nuclear carrier. DEVELOPMENT Construction The carrier replaced the '' Foch '' 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 (R09) '' in 1950. She was named ''Richelieu'' in 1986, 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), but was renamed to ''Charles De Gaulle'' the year after by Prime Minister of the time, Jacques Chirac . Spying incident In 1993, a group of MI6 officers posing as engineers were discovered inspecting the vessel during its construction. It is believed they were evaluating the method of shielding the nuclear reactors. Trials and technical problems '' newspaper. The sign reads : "Work in progress, slow down".]] The ''Charles De Gaulle'' entered sea trials in 1999 which identified the need to extend the flight deck to safely operate the E-2C Hawkeye . This operation induced a bad perception in the population, though the same operation had been performed on both the '' Foch '' and the '' Clemenceau '' when F-8 Crusader aircraft had been introduced, and that the 5 million francs for the extension were 0.025% of the total budget for the ''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 the '' and the '' Clemenceau '' 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 , the ''Charles De Gaulle'' went back to the sea with two older propellers, and sailed 25.2 knots (47 km/h) on her trials. Between July and October, the ''Charles De Gaulle'' had to be refitted once more due to abnormal noises near the starboard propeller up to 100 dB, which rendered the aft part of the ship uninhabitable. On the 18 May 2001 , the ''Charles De Gaulle'' was officially commissioned, somewhat tainted with a reputation as a financial black hole and as a bit of a Lemon . ACTIVE SERVICE Refitting On 16 September 2001 , slightly abnormal radioactivity levels aboard the ''Charles De Gaulle'', probably due to a faulty isolation element, were reported by the French press. While the USA were preparing their retaliation for the Attack Of The 11th Of September 2001 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 object of criticism, former president Valéry Giscard D'Estaing mentioning a "half-aircraft-carrier". Liaison 16 On 11 October 2001 , the frigate '' Cassard '', four AWACS aircraft and the ''Charles De Gaulle'' were involved in a successful trial of the "Liaison 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 "Liaison 11" system. Gas incident 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 onboard medical team and sent to Toulon Hospital. Both survived. Afghanistan : ''Mission Héracles'' On 21 November 2001 , France decided to send the ''Charles De Gaulle'' to the Indian Ocean to support UN operations against Afghanistan . ''Task Force 473'', with 2900 men under 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 Étendard s, one E-2C Hawkeye , two Rafale and several helicopters. '' in the Oman Sea. From the upper left to the bottom right: ITS ''Maestrale'' , FS ''De Grasse'' , USS ''John C. Stennis'' , USS ''Port Royal'' , ''Charles De Gaulle (R 91)'', HMS ''Ocean'' , FS ''Surcouf'' , USS ''John F. Kennedy'' , HNLMS ''Van Amstel'' and ITS ''Luigi Durand de la Penne'' (18th of April 2002).]] On 17 December , 2001 , ''Task Force 473'' was integrated in an international force, alongside USS ''Theodore Roosevelt'' and USS ''John C. Stennis'' aeronaval groups, and the Italian '' Giuseppe Garibaldi ''. The force included over 100 French, US, Canadian, British, German, Italian, Dutch, Australian, Spanish and Japanese ships under a centralised inter-allied command in Bahrain . Super Étendard aircraft carried out their first missions above Afghanistan on 19 December , executing reconnaissance and bombing missions, covering over 3000 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 US 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 on 2 March , " Operation Anaconda " began. In March, Super Étendards and six air tankers, 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. , the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier ]] On 2 May , the ''Charles De Gaulle'' arrived in Singapore for a relief, and returned to Oman on 18th. At the same time, tension began to increase over the question of Iraq; Vice-Amiral Francois 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 From 9 June – 19 June 2002 , the ''Charles De Gaulle'' and her group carried out interposition missions to ease the tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir . The Rafales patroled the Indian and Pakistani coasts, armed with live air-air munitions, with the aim of preventing incidents such as in 1999 when a Pakistani Breguet Atlantique coming from the sea, possibly on an intelligence mission, was shot down by Indian forces. 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 which airlifted the three-man crew, in spite of a 35-knot wind, troubled sea and bad visibility. 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. The emerging European forces have made equipment standardisation both a necessity and a way to reduce costs. In this context there is a possibilty 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 engine. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK
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