R91 P.A. Charles de Gaulle

Author: Paul Tiller
Photography: Author & Robin Powney

In June 2005, Portsmouth Harbour and the waters of the Solent hosted a gathering of vessels from Navies around the world who had been invited to participate in the International Fleet Review (IFR), hosted by the Royal Navy, as part of the 200 years celebrations of Admiral Lord Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Over 135 vessels, including submarines and Tall Ships, were in attendance and it was a truly international event with participation from Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and the United States of America.

The largest vessel present was the 40,000 ton nuclear powered French aircraft carrier the P.A. Charles de Gaulle, the pride of the French Navy and the largest warship in Europe. The de Gaulle was positioned next to two other helicopter and/or aircraft carrying vessels, the United States Navy’s amphibious assault vessel USS Saipan and Spain’s Principe de Asturias, by comparison it looked a very modern and capable warship and it was an impressive sight both in its size and with the number of aircraft embarked; although only part of the airwing they comprised one E-2C Hawkeye, six Super Etendards, one Dauphin 2, one Alouette III and four Rafale Ms. The remainder of the airwing had disembarked to their shore bases prior to the de Gaulle’s arrival at Portsmouth. The USS Saipan had been a late addition to the event as it was the replacement for the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) which, due to extended operations in the Persian Gulf, had to cancel.

The de Gaulle was constructed at the DCN Brest naval shipyard and launched in May 1994. The lead-up to it entering service was not a smooth journey due to various technical problems and political opposition. In January 1999 the carrier commenced an extensive programme of sea trials during which it was established that the flight deck was too short to conduct E-2C Hawkeye operations. To overcome this, the flight deck was lengthened by a further 4.4 metres and this was sufficient for the E-2C Hawkeye to land and clear the flight deck.

The flight deck consists of a main runway which is 195m long and angled at 8.5° to the ship's axis. The whole deck measures 260 x 64m. The aircraft launching areas are each equipped with a USN Type C13F catapult, 75m (246 ft) in length, which have the capability of launching one aircraft per minute. The sea trials also showed that the carrier is capable of conducting flight operations in very heavy sea conditions – Sea State 6 – with wind speeds of up to 33 knots and 20ft waves due to the SATRAP computerised, integrated stabilisation system which is designed to maintain the ships stabilisation to within 0.5° of the horizontal axis. Four pairs of stabilising fins have been fitted and these contribute to improved handling at sea.

In September 2000 the carrier was commissioned with the planned entry to service to be made in December 2000. But a further setback occurred. During some long-distance sea trials one of the propeller blades broke which resulted in them being replaced with the blades from the de Gaulle’s predecessor, the “Foch”. The manufacturer of the newer blades had gone out of business so re-designed replacements could not be sourced. With entry to service being delayed further the de Gaulle was finally declared operational in April 2001. In June 2001 the de Gaulle conducted a series of further exercises in the Mediterranean which were without any major problems.

The de Gaulle is designed to go to sea with an embarked airwing of up to forty aircraft and the hangar deck can accommodate 20-25 aircraft, approximately half of the air wing. In December 2001, as part of UN Task Force 473 and under “Operation Héraclès”, it was sent to the Indian Ocean with a reduced airwing comprising two E-2C Hawkeyes, sixteen Super Etendards, two Dauphin 2’s, one Alouette III and seven Rafale Ms. This airwing packed a sizeable punch and was to be put to useful effect. On 19th December Super Etendard aircraft carried out their first reconnaissance and bombing missions above Afghanistan covering an area of 3000km². In total over 770 missions were flown by the Etendards, averaging twelve per day with five reported instances where the aircraft had to avoid Stinger missiles being fired at them.

Of note, at least until early March when AdA Mirage 2000s were forward deployed to Manas, was that the Super Etendards, together with AdA Mirage IVPs, were the only non-US aircraft over Afghanistan. Whilst out in the Indian Ocean, the de Gaulle operated in close proximity with USN carriers and as such often hosted each others aircraft and ship's personnel (28 February 2002 saw an E-2C from the USS John C Stennis land aboard the de Gaulle and on 14 March a French E-2C land on the Stennis).

This deployment was the first time Rafale Ms had been at sea and they used the opportunity afforded to them to continue training and working up the Rafale M on the de Gaulle - the seven Rafales racked up some 1,600 cat shot cycles and 2,100 flight hours. On two occasions, aircraft flew direct from Istres to the carrier and in doing so covered 3,300 nautical miles in roughly seven hours. The Rafales also took part in joint exercises and mock dogfights with USN F-14 Tomcats and F/A-18 Hornets - the results are said to have been 'positive' with the slow-speed handling of the Rafale taking the USN pilots by surprise. In July 2002 the de Gaulle returned to its home port of Toulon.

The current Rafale Ms are F1 standard and do not have an air-to-ground capability so cannot yet replace the ageing Super Etendards of 11 Flotille and 17 Flotille, a type that made its first flight in 1974 and will eventually be replaced by the Rafale M in the 2010 timeframe; they do however have a vital role to play aboard the Charles de Gaulle in that they provide the carrier strike group with much needed air cover (although only with Mica radar guided AAMs), replacing the 1950s vintage F-8E Crusader.

F2 standard Rafales began testing at Mont de Marsan in late 2004 and will eventually be able to deliver the full arsenal of French munitions including the Mica IR-guided AAM as well as improved air-to-air capability. This will include the MIDS datalink as well as “Scalp” a jamming resistant passive optronic surveillance and imaging system with a laser range finder search and track system mounted forward of the cockpit – this will supplement the radar for passive multi-target tracking and identification. Nuclear munitions and Exocet anti-shipping missile delivery will come with the introduction of the F3s (Rafale N) from 2007 onwards.

In the mean time, the Super Etendards can fulfil almost any strike role called upon them, from anti-surface warfare to an ASMP-equipped nuclear strike. Furthermore, Super Etendards are also being continually upgraded to take advantage of new technologies and will continue to be upgraded until the Rafale M completely takes over. Providing the important search and rescue cover during carrier operations (launching and recovery) as well as logistical support are the Dauphin 2 and Alouette III helicopters and in the future the ship will also support the AS565 Panther light multi-role helicopters (this is basically an advanced version of the Dauphin helicopter) or Eurocopter NH90 NFH maritime combat/transport helicopters – the NH90 being the first ever medium-size fully fly-by-wire helicopter with no mechanical backup!

More recently in March 2005 the de Gaulle took to the sea again, this time with a full airwing embarked to participate in the three week exercise “Trident d’Or 05” near Corsica in the Mediterranean. This exercise was jointly organised by France and Italy with participation from Canada, Germany, UK, Spain, Greece, Turkey and the US. The exercise was a further step in the integration of the French naval components in the NATO Response Force (NRF) and after four days of evaluation the de Gaulle returned to port with the airwing disembarking to their respective land bases of Landivisiau, Lann-Bihoué and Hyères

In May, further exercises took place and whilst taking part in MNME 05-1 off the east coast of the USA alongside USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Theodore Roosevelt and numerous other Canadian, French, British, Spanish and US ships and personnel, the de Gaulle and Eisenhower (Ike) occasionally swapped aircraft to conduct cross-deck tactical training as a step towards certification of the NRF. The crew of the de Gaulle, together with the assistance of CVW-7 personnel from the Ike, trapped and launched a VAW-121 E-2C Hawkeye, a C-2A Greyhound and, for the first time ever, an F/A-18C Hornet of VFA-131 on the de Gaulle. Similarly, Ike trapped and launched an E-2C from 4 Flotille and witnessed numerous 'bolters' from a 12 Flotille Rafale M. Following bad weather eight Super Etendards, one Rafale M and one Hawkeye had to divert to a CONUS (CONtinental US) airbase, yet they were refused permission at McGuire AFB and ended up at the commercial airport in Atlantic City.

In early June the de Gaulle took part in “Exercise CANFREX” which was held off the coast of Canada where, for five days, the de Gaulle participated in exercises with other French naval vessels and the Canadian Navy. Following the completion of this exercise the de Gaulle returned to France and briefly visited Cherbourg before sailing to Portsmouth for the IFR. After the visit to Portsmouth the de Gaulle sailed to Brest for a two day visit, following which the next stop would be Toulon in early July where it will be readied for another sailing later in the year.

The French Navy has plans to build a second carrier which will not be the same class as the de Gaulle as the requirement is for a conventionally-powered carrier, not nuclear powered. The design phase of this carrier programme (PA2) was launched in January 2005 and the production phase is scheduled to begin in 2006. The design of the new carrier remains to be decided but it is possible that it will be identical / similar to the BAe/Thales design proposed for the Royal Navy. In 2014 the de Gaulle is scheduled for a refit and refueling which also coincides with plans for the second carrier to enter service in the same year.

The author would like to thank Lt Claire Zimmerlin, the Royal Navy Trafalgar 200 office, Gemma King RNR and the personnel of R91 P.A Charles de Gaulle.