Charles de Gaulle - Design
When launched, Charles de Gaulle nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was the largest fighting ship ever built by a European shipyard. Designed to operate 40 Rafale M aircraft, it would be the main unit of the French Navy's surface fleet. The Charles de Gaulle was officially handed over to the French Navy on 28 September 2000.
The Charles de Gaulle is the most sophisticated, highest performance warship ever built in Europe. She offers massive air power, a highly-integrated combat system, and impressive endurance. Deploying 40 modern combat planes plus early-warning aircraft, she can conduct 100 air missions a day. As the center-piece of a carrier group, she can perform vital duties in any waters.
The nuclear propulsion gives the carrier a great autonomy. The propulsion system comprises two front and rear assemblies each consisting of a nuclear boiler, identical to that of the nuclear launching submarines (SNLE) type "Le Triomphant". These boiler rooms provide steam for the propellers and catapults. The confinement enclosures are reinforced to cope with external shocks caused by missiles or a collision. The maximum speed of Charles de Gaulle is 27 knots, Instead of 32 for Foch and Clemenceau . However, as your rapporteur has already pointed out, the slightest speed of the Charles de Gaulle is not an obstacle to the implementation of aviation embarked by the increased power of catapults.
Moreover, the cruising speed of the carrier group will be improved by the significant reduction in the supply constraint . Indeed, a classic aircraft carrier such as the Foch requiring a refueling every three or four days, had to regulate its speed on that of the accompanying oil tanker, that is to say 13 knots. The Charles de Gaulle , thanks to an increased space, Can also refuel his escort or take away jet fuel. Its capacity to carry jet fuel allows it to cover the consumption of three frigates for 10 days. Thus, at an average of 22 knots, the carrier and its escort can, for example, from Toulon, join Ormuz in 8 days via the Suez Canal, or in 22 days by the Cape of Good Hope.
The French "Charles de Gaulle" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was a slight modification of its Triumph-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine reactor and was transplanted to the aircraft carrier. As a result, the "Charles de Gaulle" with a standard displacement of only 35,000 tons was always insufficient. Although it has been continuously improved, it still has many problems. For example, it cannot produce enough steam for its steam ejector to work properly, so it is necessary to install an additional steam boiler.
Nuclear propulsion facilitated the organization of the flight deck, since the location of the central island is no longer conditioned by the positioning of the chimneys and has therefore been placed sufficiently forward the bridge. The two lateral elevators, which have a 36-ton lift capacity, accommodate two planes at a time, have been placed backwards to facilitate movement between the flight deck and the hangar. The ability of the elevators to route two planes every two minutes on deck, their location and the location of parking areas alert.
It is a 40,600 tonne fully loaded vessel and 261.5 m long, the flight deck using the full length of the vessel. It is a classic CTOL aircraft carrier ( conventional take-off and landing ): the aircraft are catapulted and recovered on an oblique track equipped with stopwires. The oblique track is 203 meters long, After the extension of 4.4 meters carried out during the refresher after testing. The maximum width of the take-off bridge is 64 meters in its widest width and the deck area (12,000 m2) is nearly 40% higher than that of the Foch . The oblique track is equipped with three stops.
Two catapults accelerate aircraft (Rafales, Hawkeyes, and modernized Super Étendards) to over 300 km/h in just 75 meters. The flight deck can launch one aircraft every 30 seconds or handle a mass landing of 20 aircraft in just 12 minutes. Data links (to NATO standards L16 and L11) allow Hawkeye early-warning aircraft to transmit tactical situation data in real time to naval units and combat aircraft.
It had been decided to build the hull of Charles de Gaulle in Brest, and thus limit its size to that of the dry dock of the arsenal. The Charles de Gaulle therefore kept the same length as the Foch and Clemenceau , ie 262 meters. This constraint led to the finding of complex technical solutions to increase the surface area of the flight deck by almost 50% (12 000 m² instead of 8 800 m²) and to stabilize the whole platform thanks to a technique specific. Despite these evolutions, the length of the deck does not permit simultaneous landing and catapulting, and, less inconvenient, the length of the American catapults equipping the Charles de Gaulle had to be reduced from 90 to 75 meters, causing stronger accelerations and thus a greater fatigue of the structure of the planes. Finally, The shorter length of the vessel and its mass - 40,000 tons - give it a stability at sea lower than that of US aircraft carriers of 100,000 tons and 335 meters long.
The aircraft carrier has two American-style steam catapults, 75 meters long, one on the oblique track and the other on the axial track. These are adapted from the American model of 90 meters, which equips the heavy aircraft carriers of the US Navy. There is no difference in power between the two models, The catapults mounted on the Charles de Gaulle imposing only a stronger acceleration on planes (an aircraft is catapulted in one second at 160 knots with an acceleration of 5 G), which can have an influence on the wear of the structure of the aircraft. This acceleration, according to the pilots, is however less than on the Clemenceau and the Foch. The power of the catapults is much higher than those of the Foch and the Charles de Gaulle can easily catapult aircraft of more than 25 tons. The new catapults also have a greater potential than the old ones, whose number of shots was quite strictly limited. Otherwise, The power of the new catapults compensates the maximum speed difference of Charles de Gaulle compared to the Foch (- 5 knots).
The take-off deck is not long enough to permit catapulting during the landing maneuvers. Indeed, despite the shortening of the catapults, that of the axial track overflows on the oblique track. The implementation of the Aviation is facilitated by a new landing aid system, which uses dual laser and optical sighting.
The spaces reserved for the aviation hangars were multiplied by 1.4 compared to the Foch. With a surface area of 4,000 m2, they can accommodate 16 planes and 2 helicopters. The capacities to carry jet fuel (3,000 m 3 ) and ammunition (600 tons) are also higher. The Charles de Gaulle is capable of operating 35 to 40 aircraft of the 20/25 tonne class. The aviation facilities allow 100 combat flights per 24 hours for 7 days, by massive decks of 20 to 24 aircraft, Renewable every 4 hours or by chained decks of 4 to 8 planes every 1h30 approximately.
Despite its short length, which is more suited to navigation in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean than in the Atlantic, and its low tonnage compared to US aircraft carriers over 300 meters long and over 100,000 tonnes, the Charles de Gaulle offers a great stability of platform, allowing to implement its aviation by putting strong.
In addition, one of the essential elements of the building is its combat system, based on two interconnected sets:
- a system for preparing the action, which collects and maintains information from all sources for the benefit of all the components of the A naval task force whose main components are the Naval Force Command Support System, which synthesizes and evaluates missions, and the Air Mission Preparation and Restitution System (SLPRM), jointly with the Air Force ;
- a system of conduct of the SENIT 8, which develops the tactical situation, disseminates it and coordinates, in a few seconds, the implementation of the weapons of the carrier group Thanks to an efficient data transmission system (link 16). Like the Hawkeye and later the Rafale, the Charles de Gaulle is the first ship in the Navy to be equipped with a system allowing secure data transmissions of high-speed tactical data with NATO allies. The Senit 8 CMS enables CIC officers and the OTC to monitor 2,000 tracks in real time and engage air, naval and shore targets in fully-integrated mode.
In addition to state-of-the-art stabilization, communications and automation - including the Senit 8 CMS and the Shipmaster IPMS - all onboard facilities were designed and developed using the latest technologies, including CAD and virtual reality. All basic concepts correctly foreshadowed the design and construction of warships now at the proposal stage.
As part of one of the most modern systems of its type ever deployed, Aster 15 hyper-agile anti-air missiles provide protection against attacking aircraft and missiles. The aircraft carrier acts as the hub of an extensive communications network exchanging data over 50 simultaneous links with naval and air units plus shore-based command centers.
The Satrap stabilization system system offers exceptional performance. At 20 knots with the rudder at 30°, heel is just 1°. Reduced platform motion means the flight deck can handle 25-ton aircraft up to sea state 6.
Safety is essential to the success of every naval mission. In peacetime, the crew's safety is the top priority. This depends not only on the inherent safety of the vessel's equipment and weapons, but also on how the crew handles the ship and how they respond to incidents and emergencies. As a result of long-term involvement in the design and development of powerplants for nuclear submarines and, more recently, the Charles-de-Gaulle aircraft carrier, safety awareness is a strong tradition at DCN. No other area of naval architecture demands stricter compliance with safety and environmental requirements, whether during normal operation or combat situations.
The procedures laid down in the DCN Reference System are based on lessons learned from the design and development of a wide range of warships. In addition to guidelines for naval architecture and design, the Reference System also details strict materials qualification processes and quality control procedures to be carried out during shipbuilding.
Dependability analyses are undertaken to check that each system's target failure rates comply with the allocated rates. The ship's Operations Manual is also based on these dependability analyses. This Manual details both normal operations and responses to failures and incidents.
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