Charles de Gaulle (R91; ) is the flagship of the French Navy. Commissioned in 2001, the ship is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside of the United States Navy. It is named after French president and general Charles de Gaulle.
The ship carries a complement of Dassault Rafale M and E-2C Hawkeye aircraft, AS365F Dauphin Pedro, EC725 Caracal and AS532 Cougar helicopters for combat search and rescue, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles. She is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses two C13‑3 steam catapults of a shorter version of the catapult system installed on the US aircraft carriers, one at the bow and one at the waist. As of March 2026, Charles de Gaulle and the Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian were the only non-American aircraft carriers equipped with catapult launch systems. The catapults on Charles de Gaulle allow it to operate F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and C-2 Greyhounds of the United States Navy.
Development
Construction The carrier replaced , a conventionally powered aircraft carrier, in 2001. 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 launched in May 1994 and at 42,000 tonnes (full load) was the largest warship launched in Western Europe since in 1950. She was to be named Richelieu in 1986 by the French president at the time, François Mitterrand, after the famous French statesman Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu. On 18 May 1987, the name of the ship was changed to Charles de Gaulle by the Gaullist Prime Minister Jacques Chirac.
Construction quickly fell behind schedule as the project was starved of funding, which was worsened by the economic recession in the early 1990s. Total costs for the vessel would top €3 billion. Work on the ship was suspended altogether on four occasions: 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1995. The ship was commissioned on 18 May 2001, five years behind the projected deadline.
In 1993, it was alleged by The Guardian that a group of engineers inspecting the vessel during her construction were British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) operatives, believed to have been learning the method of shielding the nuclear reactors, amongst other technical details. The newspaper published a denial by both the British government and the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST) (in English: Directorate of Territorial Surveillance) that there had been any incident.
Trials and technical problems
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 sparked negative publicity, as the same tests had been conducted on Foch and Clemenceau when the F-8E (FN) Crusader fighter had been introduced. The 5 million francs for the extension was 0.025% of the total budget for the Charles de Gaulle project.
The ship left Toulon for her fourteenth and final sea trial on 24 October 2000. During the night of 9–10 November, in the Western Atlantic while en route toward Norfolk, Virginia, the port propeller broke, and the ship had to return to Toulon to have a replacement fitted. Although the supplier, Atlantic Industrie, was not believed to have intentionally been at fault, it was nevertheless blamed for poor-quality construction. Not long after the French defence minister ordered an investigation on quality management, a fire destroyed the archives of the supplier. As a temporary solution, the less advanced spare propellers of Clemenceau were used, limiting the maximum speed to instead of the contractual .
On 5 March 2001, Charles de Gaulle returned to sea with the ex-Clemenceau propellers and reached on her trials.
On 16 September 2001 the French press reported slightly higher than acceptable radioactivity levels aboard Charles de Gaulle, thought to be caused by a faulty isolation element. It was later discovered that the radioactivity levels matched the design, but that the regulations concerning acceptable radioactivity levels had changed. While the United States was preparing its response to the 11 September attacks in the form of Operation Enduring Freedom, French 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, Charles de Gaulle, then under repairs, was again an object of criticism, with former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing describing it as a "half-aircraft-carrier" and requesting the launching of the second carrier vessel (named PA2) to guarantee an availability rate of 100%.
Maintenance and upgrades Charles de Gaulle first major overhaul began in September 2007. The highlight of this 15-month refit was the refuelling of the nuclear power plant, a necessary step after six years in service, during which Charles de Gaulle sailed the equivalent of 12 times around the world, spent 900 days at sea, and performed 19,000 catapult launches."Entretien et Modernisation du Charles de Gaulle" (PDF). French Navy Press Release'. Retrieved 22 May 2008 Several improvements were also made, including the installation of new propellers. These allow Charles de Gaulle to reach her design speed of 27 knots, replacing the propellers used since 2001. Aircraft maintenance and weapons stores were also upgraded to allow the operation of new Rafale F3 fighters armed with ASMP-A nuclear missiles and SCALP EG cruise missiles, and satellite communications bandwidth will be increased tenfold. This refit increased displacement to 42,500 tonnes and was completed in December 2008. After technical problems in March 2009, the carrier was back in Toulon for repairs. An intensive work-up period was planned to bring Charles de Gaulle and her air group back to operational status.
On 14 October 2010, a four-month cruise was cut down to a single day when the ship suffered an electrical fault in its propulsion system.French Carrier Heads Home a Day into Anti-Piracy, Afghan Mission Agence France-Presse, 14 October 2010
The aircraft carrier underwent an 18-month midlife upgrade and refit begun in February 2017 and returned to service in September 2018. The nuclear reactor was refuelled, standard maintenance was completed, and the ship's combat system was modernized, to better communicate with allies and support the Rafale fighters employed by the carrier.
Operational service
On 11 October 2001, the frigate , four AWACS aircraft and Charles de Gaulle were involved in a successful trial of the Link 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 frigate through the older MIL-STD-6011 system.
Afghanistan On 21 November 2001, France sent Charles de Gaulle to the Indian Ocean in support of Operation Enduring Freedom against Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Task Force 473, with 2,900 personnel under the command of Contre-Amiral François Cluzel, sailed on 1 December. The task force was composed of Charles de Gaulle, frigates , and Jean Bart, the nuclear attack submarine , the tanker and the . Embarked air power comprised sixteen Super Étendards, one E-2C Hawkeye, two Rafale Ms, and several helicopters. The Super Étendards carried out their first missions above Afghanistan on 19 December, executing reconnaissance and bombing missions, covering over . Approximately 770 sorties were carried out from the carrier.
From February 2002, the air wings of Charles de Gaulle and landed on each other's decks as a means of strengthening the ties between the allies. On 18 February 2002, a Helios observation satellite spotted abnormal activities near Gardez. The next day, after American Special Forces in the region confirmed these observations, Charles de Gaulle launched two reconnaissance Super Étendards. On 20 February 2002, British and US forces entered the valley and Operation Anaconda began in early March 2002. In March, Super Étendards and six land-based Mirage 2000 aircraft carried out airstrikes against targets claimed to be al Qaeda. A few targets suggested by US forces were denied out of fear of hitting civilians. French involvement was complimented on 11 March 2002 by US President George W. Bush, who mentioned "our good ally, France, has deployed nearly one-fourth of its navy to support Operation Enduring Freedom"."President Thanks World Coalition for Anti-Terrorism Efforts ", The White House, 11 March 2002. Retrieved 31 December 2006. At this point, the French air complement had been increased to 16 Super Étendards, 6 Mirage 2000 D, 5 Rafales, and 2 Hawkeye AWACS. On 2 May, Charles de Gaulle arrived in Singapore for relief, and returned to Oman on 18 May.
Indian-Pakistani crisis
In June 2002 while Charles de Gaulle was in the Arabian Sea, armed Rafale fighters conducted combat air patrols with the United States Navy off the coasts of India and Pakistan,Has Pakistan Lost Its Nuclear Weapons? Bharat Rakshak Monitor. Retrieved 3 November 2006 marking a significant point in the Rafale M's operational career and its integration with the carrier."En Garde!" (August 2002). Journal of Electronic Defense.
Continuing operations Charles de Gaulle participated in further actions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2005. She returned to Southwest Asia in May 2006 and shortly after supported coalition efforts over Afghanistan. The aircraft carrier regularly participates in the annual bilateral naval exercises between the Indian and French navies called 'Varuna'.
Fifth overseas deployment: Task Force 473 and Operation Agapanthus 2010 A French naval task group, designated Task Force 473, led by Charles de Gaulle departed Toulon on 30 October 2010 for a four-month deployment, code-named Operation Agapanthus 2010, to the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf. The task group also included the frigates and ; the nuclear attack submarine ; the replenishment oiler Meuse, 3,000 sailors, and an Embarked Aviation Group (EAG) consisting of 12 Super Étendard attack aircraft, 10 Rafale multi-role fighters, and two E-2C Hawkeye 2000 AEW aircraft.
On 28 November 2010, according to an Associated Press dispatch, the French Ministry of Defence announced that a French Rafale fighter jet crashed near Charles de Gaulle, which was operating off the coast of Pakistan in the Arabian Sea in support of coalition forces in Afghanistan. The pilot parachuted to safety and was picked up by helicopter, and , the cause of the crash was under investigation.
In December 2010, during its deployment to the Persian Gulf, the British Type 22 frigate and the United States destroyer rotated from maritime security patrol to escort Charles de Gaulle in support of coalition military operations in Afghanistan. This represented an example of interoperability pursuant to the recently ratified Anglo-French defence cooperation treaty.
Between 7–14 January 2011, Task Force 473 participated in bilateral naval exercises, code-named Varuna 10, with the Indian Navy. Indian naval units participating in Varuna 10 included the aircraft carrier , the frigates and ; and the diesel-electric submarine . Varuna 10 was a two-phase naval exercise, with the harbour phase taking place between 7–11 January and the sea phase between 11 and 14 January in the Arabian Sea. Task Force 473 paid a port visit to Goa between 7–14 January 2011. The carrier Charles de Gaulle and the frigate Forbin also paid a goodwill visit to Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, on 30 January 2011, docking at its container terminal facilities.