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1960-1990 - Late Cold War

During the Cold War, the French Navy developed into a serious combat force with the most modern implements of war. Technological innovation' continued with the leading place given to the development of surface-to-surface missiles. French Navy doctrine was developed for interactions against fleets of medium powers or to deny the full use of the fleet of a major power.

With the predominance of the strategic nuclear force, the resulting role for conventional navy forces might be to sweep the seas ahead of a missile-firing submarine to ensure that it would get to its launch position unaffected by enemy anti-submarine forces. France developed her own doctrine for naval diplomacy. Rather than having large numbers of overseas stationed combat forces like the Americans, or the "swing-through" doctrine of the Royal Navy, the French often performed naval diplomacy with station-keeping ships with limited combat potential.

The French navy differed from the other NATO navies two respects. First, France was the only country which is a full member of NATO's civil organization but whose forces are not integrated into NATO's military organization. Second, the French navy was the only one of these navies that still has an important mission outside Europe. Its four missions (which had changed little since the advent of de Gaulle) were: to participate in nuclear deterrence by maintaining an SSBN force, to maintain surveillance over and, if necessary, to defend the maritime approaches to France in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; to retain at sea and overseas the ability to act as necessary to fulfill France's diplomatic obligations and defend her interests; and to carry out public service, or coast guard, tasks.

The French Navy was third in the West (after the US and UK) in terms of number of combat ships and boats, weapons and equipment. In 1983 it included 134 major combatants, 41 minor combatants, approximately 180 auxiliary ships and small craft, and more than 160 combat aircraft and helicopters. Personnel strength was 69,000 (4,230 officers).

Nuclear missile submarines (five "Le Redoutable" class) and multi-purpose aircraft carriers (two — the Clemenceau and Foch) were the strike force of the fleet. In addition there were 1 nuclear and 20 diesel powered submarines; 2 cruisers (one a helicopter carrier); 19 destroyers (including 12 guided missile ships); 24 frigates (23 guided missile ships; see inset); 22 landing ships; and 39 minesweepers.

In 1982 the French Navy obtained the S601 Rubis nuclear powered submarine; the D642 Montcalm guided missile destroyer; three "D'estienne D'Orves" class guided missile frigates; a landing ship (tank); two "Eridan" class mine hunter-sweepers; and a utility supply transport ship.

According to naval development plans, naval strategic forces were being improved and ship construction and modernization was underway. The SSBN L'Inflexible (commissioning set for 1984); four nuclear powered torpedo submarines ("Rubis" class); four guided missile destroyers ("Georges Leygues" class); two guided missile frigates ("D'estienne D'Orves" class); a landing ship (tank) and a minor landing craft; two guided missile boats ("Super Patra" class); seven mine hunter-sweepers ("Eridan" class) and a utility supply transport ship were in various stages of construction.

In connection with the end of the maximum service life of the aircraft carriers in 1990-1995, it had been decided to replace them with nuclear powered aircraft carriers (displacement 32,000 - 35,000 tons; armed with 30-40 aircraft and helicopters). The keel of the first ship, initially named Bretagne, was to be laid in 1985.

The French navy's force structure was distinctive in that it was the only European navy to retain an attack carrier force. France had three to four carriers (including helicopter carriers) since 1953 and would retain the current two attack carriers and one helicopter carrier into the 1990s. Her two attack carriers had been updated by major overhauls and by procurement of the Super Etendard attack aircraft with a tactical nuclear capability. In the 1990s they were to be replaced by two 32,000-ton nuclear-powered carriers [only one - the CDG - was actually built].

France also had five SSBNs in service and is building a sixth. She has continuously had a handful of cruisers or large missile destroyers to escort the carriers. Her force of destroyers and large frigates remained continuously around 45 units from 1957 to 1974, thanks to a major construction effort in the 1950s, but since then 19 ships have been stricken from the list and only four new ones delivered. The new light frigates of the D'Estienne d'Orves class were taking over the missions of a once numerous class of 450-ton U.S.-type large patrol craft, of which only two survive. France's attack submarine force had grown steadily from 13 in 1951 to 22 by 1981.

A decision had been made that all future French submarines will be nuclear, and, while this will give the French new capabilities, it will also result in reduced submarine force levels.

As in other NATO navies, France's minesweeper force increased greatly in the 1950s and had since declined: it is being upgraded qualitatively by the conversion of 10 MSO to minehunters and the construction of 15 new Enidan-class minehunters. Despite the leadership of French industry in the fast attack craft market, the French navy has acquired only a few such ships, and those only for patrol duties. France' s nine large amphibious ships are used mainly for logistics duties. The French navy began a program that will replace her Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft with 46 "new-generation Atlantics."

In some of the non-US NATO navies, force structures are the result of comprehensive, multi-year new-construction programs sanctioned by the legislature. As France approached the end of such a program, the Fourth Program Law of 1977-82, and the 1981 budget documents, enable an estimation of the success of that program and its impact on the structure of the French navy in 1990. In addition the details of a long-range plan drafted in 1978 have been made public, and as a result we now also know what the French navy thought (or hoped) its structure will be in the year 2000.

Perhaps the clearest way to estimate the success of the 1977-82 law is to see how many of the ships that were to be delivered during the period were delivered and how many to be ordered were ordered. Based upon 1980 projections, actual deliveries match planned ones very closely: only three large frigates were to be delivered instead of four planned, but one more light frigate, one more replenishment ship, and two more amphibious ships will be delivered than planned.

Orders for new ships also matched the program reasonably well, in that ships added to the program since 1976 roughly counterbalance those deleted. Orders were added for one SSBN, two large ASW frigates, three light frigates and one oiler; and orders were deleted or deferred past the program period for one small nuclear V/STOL carrier (PA75), one large AAW frigate, three minehunters and two patrol craft. The deferral of the V/STOL carrier was followed in 1980 by a French decision to build two larger nuclear-powered carriers with conventional aircraft in the late 1980s and 1990s (the first was tentatively scheduled to be ordered in 1983 and the other after 1988, but this unit remained un-built). In general the 1977-82 program was successful -- far more so than previous French naval programs.

Doctrinal development was enhanced with the introduction by Admiral Marcel Duval of new courses at the Ecole superieure de guerre de la Marine. Then-Commander Michel Tripier completed the Fondements et principes de Strategie maritime (1977), but this paper was circulated only amongst Navy circles until an extract, "Les missions navales," appeared in the April 1990 issue of Strategique. Rear Admiral Hubert Moineville, FN (Ret.), prepared an excellent book La guerre navale (1982) which was translated into English.

The French navy of 1988 possessed 124 warships (6 nuclear-powered missile submarines, 4 nuclear-powered multipurpose submarines and 14 diesel- powered submarines, 2 aircraft carriers, a guided missile cruiser and a helicopter-carrier cruiser, 15 guided missile destroyers, 2 destroyers, 24 guided missile frigates, 1 frigate, 17 landing ships, 27 minesweepers and 10 patrol ships). The navy's light forces include 3 missile and 12 patrol boats; a possibility for installing Exocet antiship missile systems was foreseen for 10 Type P-400 boats. Naval aviation possessed over 150 warplanes and helicopter gunships.

Six nuclear-powered missile submarines — five "Redoubtable" class and one "Enflexible" class (S615) — were organizationally included in the strategic naval command. As a rule four boats were combat ready while two were undergoing overhaul and modernization at the Cherbourg docks. The S614 "Le Tonnant" and S615 "L'Inflexible" nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines were armed with M4 ballistic missiles with a range of around 4,500 km equipped with MIRV warheads (six individually guided warheads of 150 kilotons each), while the rest were equipped with M20 ballistic missiles with a single 1 megaton warhead.

Another two submarines (S612 "Terrible" and S613 "L'Indomptable") were being refitted with M4 missiles. After this, the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine 5610 "Le Foudroyant" was to be refitted. The work was to be completed by 1992. There were no plans for rearming the 5611 "Le Redoubtable", since it would be retired into the reserve in the mid-1990s.

All French nuclear-powered missile submarines were to be armed with SM-39 Exocet antiship missiles with a range of around 50 km, which would be launched out of 533-mm torpedo tubes. "Le Redoubtable" class nuclear-powered missile submarines would remain among the effectives until the year 2000.

Industrial orders for a new type of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine were anticipated in correspondence with the plan for development of the country's armed forces in 1984-1988. This submarine was to be transferred to the fleet in 1994. Its submerged displacement is 14,200 tons (its surface displacement was 12,700 tons), its length was 138 m, and its width was 12.5 m. Initially it would be armed with 16 improved M4 ballistic missiles, and later on with new M5 missiles with a range of up to 6,000 km.

France was continuing construction of nuclear-powered multipurpose submarines of the "Rubis" class (a series of seven units). Three nuclear-powered submarines — the S601 "Rubis", the S602 "Saphire" and the S603 "Casablanca" — were among the fleet's effectives; transfer of a fourth to the navy was anticipated in the near future, two are still under construction, and one had been ordered. The design of the last three submarines would be altered somewhat. They were intended chiefly for anti-submarine missions.

Besides nuclear-powered submarines, the regular navy includes 14 diesel submarines (four "Agosta" class, nine "Daphne" class and one experimental submarine— the "Narval"). It was anticipated that "Daphne" class submarines would be retired into the reserve or dismantled in the next 10 years as nuclear-powered submarines enter the fleet, while "Agosta" class submarines would remain in operation until 2005-2010. Besides torpedoes, "Rubis" and "Agosta" submarines were armed with Exocet antiship missiles.

An order for construction of the country's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier was placed in February 1986. It was to be laid down at the building docks of the naval arsenal in Brest in 1989, and it was to be transferred to the navy by 1996. According to the plan it would had a full load displacement of around 36,000 tons, a length of 261.5 m, a width of 31.8 m (the flight deck was to be 64.4 m wide) and a draft of 8.5 m.

The aircraft carrier would be able to support the combat operations of up to 40 deck-landing airplanes (with a take-off weight up to 20 tons) and helicopters. It would initially be used as a base for Super Etandard strike fighters. The second aircraft carrier would possibly be ordered in 1990. The French naval command believed that the carriers R98 "Clemenceau" and the R99 "Foch" would remain in the inventory correspondingly until 1995 and 1998.

Renewal of the surface fleet was proceeding along the lines of building new guided missile destroyers and frigates and removing obsolete classes of ships from the naval register.

Construction of a series of seven "Georges Leygues" class guided missile destroyers with reinforced antisubmarine armament was presently nearing completion: Six ships had already been transferred to the navy, and it was anticipated that the last would be commissioned in 1990. In the first half of this year the fleet would receive the destroyer "Cassard" (there would be a total of four ships in the series), intended chiefly for antisubmarine missions.

The ships "Georges Leygues" and "Cassard" were designed on the basis of the same hull, and they were distinguished, besides by different weapons systems, by the silhouette of the superstructure and the type of propulsion unit (the "Georges Leygues" had a combined diesel and gas turbine system, while the "Cassard" had a diesel propulsion unit). The armament of guided missile destroyers was distinguished by a rather high level of standardization.

Allocation of money for construction of new type FL25 guided missile frigates with a full load displacement of 3,000 tons was anticipated in 1988. The number of ships in the series had not yet been determined as of 1988; the plan is to order three initially. Two variants of the future ships were possible depending on their purpose—with reinforced antisubmarine armament, and multipurpose. Their acceptance by the navy was anticipated in the first half of the 1990s. Gradual retirement of "Commandant Riviere" class guided missile frigates, built in 1962- 1965, from the regular navy had begun, and it was to be completed by 1993.

Sufficient attention was being devoted to developing amphibious and minesweeping forces. The helicopter landing ship L9011 "Foudre" (type TCD90) had been under construction since 1986. It was the prototype of a series of three units (full load displacement 11,000 tons, a landing force capacity of 470 marines together with attached combat equipment, 4 Super Puma helicopters and up to 10 CTM landing craft). The landing ship dock "Bougainville" (full load displacement 4,800 tons, accommodates up to 500 assault troops) was transferred to the navy in late 1987.

The minesweeping forces were being updated by the delivery of "Eridan" class minehunters to the navy ("Tripartite" type, 10 units in the series, 8 had already been transferred to the navy). They were replacing former American "Aggressive" minesweepers; it was anticipated that the latter would be completely excluded from the naval registry by 1991. There were plans for laying down a series of new BAMO class minehunters with a full load displacement of 900 tons each (15 units). The prototype was to join the navy in 1990.

As of 1987 naval aviation had been receiving new Atlantic-2 patrol aircraft; a total of 27 units would be delivered to the navy by 2005-2010.