French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft

French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft

Charles de Gaulle (R91) is the flagship of the French Navy (Marine Nationale) and the largest Western European carrier. She is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface, and the first and so far only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside the United States Navy. 

French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft

The carrier replaced Foch, a conventionally powered aircraft carrier in 2001. Clemenceau and Foch were completed in 1961 and 1963 respectively, the requirement for a replacement was identified in the mid-1970s.

French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft

French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft

Construction quickly fell behind schedule when the project was starved of funding by the economic downturn worsened in the early 1990s.  The total cost for the vessel would top € 3 billion. Work on the ship was completely suspended four times: 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1995. The ship was commissioned on May 18, 2001, five years after the projected deadline.

French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft

Charles de Gaulle entered sea trials in 1999. This highlighted the need to expand the cockpit to safely operate the E-2C Hawkeye. This operation led to negative publicity, however, if the same tests were performed on both Foch and Clemenceau when the F-8E (FN) Crusader fighter had been introduced. The five million francs for the expansion was 0.025% of the total budget for Charles de Gaulle project.

French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft