French Navy

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Revision as of 23:42, 5 October 2007

The French Navy, officially the Marine Royale (French: Royal Navy), is the maritime arm of the French military. It consists of a full range of vessels, from patrol boats to guided missile frigates, and includes three nuclear aircraft carriers and thirty nuclear submarines (twelve of which are SLBM-capable).

The motto of the French Navy is Honneur, Patrie, Valeur, Discipline ("Honour, Homeland, Valour, Discipline"). These words are found on the deck of every ship of the Navy. The Chief of the General Staff is Admiral Alain Oudot de Dainville.

Organization

As of 2006, the French Navy is the largest naval employer in Western Europe, including, among other things, the Marseille Marine Fire Regiment.

The Navy is organised in five branches:

• The Force d'Action Navale ("Naval Action Force"), surface fleet
• The Force Océanique Stratégique ("Strategic Ocean Force"), strategic nuclear deterrent fleet based at Île Longue
• The Aviation Navale ("Naval Air Force"), ground and sea-based planes and helicopters
• The Fusiliers de Marine ("Naval Fusiliers", ground forces used to secure naval installations) and Commandos de Marine (amphibious assault and other special operations), collectively known as FORFUSCO
• The Gendarmerie Navale, police operations and coast guard

Force d'Action Navale

The Force d'Action Navale (FAN) is the 36,000-man and about 300-ship strong backbone of the French Navy. As of 2007, it is commanded by Vice-Admiral d’Escadre Philippe Sautter.

The ships are divided into seven categories:

• The aeronaval group, which has aircraft carriers for backbone
• The amphibious group, based around the "Projection and Command vessels" (Mistral class landing platform dock, Foudre and Ouragan class landing platform dock class ships)
• Frigates, which act either as protection for the strategic groups, or alone in monitoring, survey, presence, rescue or deterrence missions
• Minesweepers
• "Sovereignty" ships, which are deployed overseas and act as presence and prevention forces
• Support vessels
• Public service ships, and hydrographic and oceanographic vessels

Aeronaval group

The aeronaval group is the main vector for French Navy force projection. It is also one of the components of the nuclear deterrence forces, since the embarked Super Étendard and Rafale planes have nuclear capabilities.

Amphibious group

The French Navy operates eighteen large amphibious ships, which contain smaller landing craft. Aboard are helicopters, troops, and land vehicles.

This force also operates fifteen smaller craft which are based in Fort de France, Toulon, Papeete, Nouméa, and La Réunion.

The amphibious groups include one or several landing ships containing landing craft which allow the projection of inter-arm groups with troops, vehicles and helicopters, and one or several light transport ships which carry motorized infantry companies up to the beaches themselves. They can carry Aérospatiale Puma and Eurocopter Cougar transport helicopters or Aérospatiale Gazelle combat helicopters, the Commandos de Marine, minesweeping units, or Army units.

The landing craft also carry field hospitals fitted with operation blocks. They may also carry a full headquarters for any national or international command.

Frigates

The frigates are the backbone of the French surface fleet. They secure aero-naval space and allow free action to the other components of the Navy. They are specialised according to the threat, typically escorting other forces (aeronaval or ampihbious groups, submarines or civil ships).

Minesweepers

The minesweepers secure major French harbors, especially for the ballistic-missile submarines in Brest, and the attack submarines in Toulon. They also stay available to secure access to Toulon, Marseille, any of the harbors of the Atlantic coast, and any Allied harbor simultaneously.

They are designed to be used within a larger group, interallied or international, in case of mine risks near coasts.

In peace time, these units can bring help and assistance to civilian ships, or search wrecks.

This force includes 3,300 men and:

• 39 minesweepers
• 9 minesweeping diver groups for shallow waters
• Several sonar ships which secure the area around Brest harbor
• 3 command and support ships

Sovereignty vessels

These vessels secure access to harbors and carry out police missions.

There are eighteen Floreal class frigates to perform these tasks, mainly by controlling the large French Exclusive Economic Zone, patrolling ocean waters, carrying out police action, and monitoring fishing activities. They are designed to operate in low-risk environments. Five are presently based overseas.

The patrol boats of the Gendarmerie Maritime carry out police actions at sea.

The fifteen bâtiments de transports légers (BATRAL) are also used to carry supplies in the DOM/TOM.

Support ships

The twelve support ships allow the French naval forces to be present anywhere on the planet, regardless of the remoteness of their bases.

These ships are integrated into tactical groups. They shuttle between harbors and fleets, giving them months of operational capabilities by feeding fuel, ammunitions, food, water, spare parts and mail.

There are also four permanent mechanics ships which can repair other ships.

Hydrographic and oceanographic vessels

Three hydrooceanographic and twelve hydrographic ships help carrying out mapping and research operations, as well as gathering intelligence which could prove useful to the deployment of naval forces and their weapon systems. They operate under the service hydrographique et océanographique de la marine (SHOM).

The Monge class trial and measurement ships are used to develop new weapon systems, especially those related to nuclear deterrence.

Force Océanique Stratégique

The Force Océanique Stratégique (FOST) are the strategic submarine forces of the French Navy. Under command of ALFOST (the Admiral in charge of the FOST), they include:

• The twelve-SSBN Escadrille des Sous-Marins Lanceurs d'Engins (ESNLE), the submarine component of the French nuclear deterrence
• The eighteen-SSN Escadrille des Sous-marins Nucléaires d'Attaque (ESNA)

Aviation Navale

The Aviation Navale (AN) of the French Navy includes 486 airplanes (414 of them combat-capable) and 20,400 men, both civilians and military personnel. They operate from six airbases, five of them in Metropolitan France and one overseas.

Born as a fusion of carrier squadrons and naval patrol air force, the Aviation Navale was created on the 19 June 1998. The headquarter is under command of an admiral (ALAVIA) in Toulon.

It has four components:

• The air complements of the aircraft carriers
• Naval patrol air units
• On-board helicopters
• Support air units

Carrier-borne pilots of the French Navy do their initial training at Salon-de-Provence Air Base, then within the US Navy.

Fusiliers de Marine

The Fusiliers de Marine are units specialized in the protection and defense of key sites of the French Navy on land. They consist of about 3,600 men.

Their deployments include:

• One group in Toulon and another in Brest, with a "Regional Intervention Group" to reinforce the protection of any particular building or place.

• Seven battalions scattered around metropolitan territory: one in the naval base of Cherbourg, one in every site of the FOST (Île Longue, France-sud, Rosnay and Sainte Assise) and one on each of the naval air bases of Lann Bihoué and Nîmes-Garons.

They also protect the DOM/TOM where interarm transmission stations are located.

The missions of the Fusiliers Marins are"

• Missions on shores from the sea
• Support of the commandos de marine during special operations
• Protection of sensitive sites of the Navy
• Protection of the ships and security aboard

Gendarmerie Navale

The Gendarmerie Navale is a component of French gendarmerie under operational control of the chief of staff of the French Navy. Its employs 3,300 soldiers and it has about ninety patrol craft and high-speed motorboats distributed on all the littoral waterways as well.

Its missions include immigration control, monitoring of fishing operations, policing at sea, and search and rescue operations. It also carries out provost duties within the French Navy.

The uniforms and insignia of the Gendarmerie Navale are very similar to those of the French Navy, but the ranks used are those of the rest of the Gendarmerie (which are the same as the traditional ranks of the French Cavalry).

Ranks

The following are the ranks of the French National Navy, showing the French rank, the English translation, and the equivalent in the Royal Navy and the English language rank system of the Canadian Navy.

Officers

Majors

• Major is equivalent to a Royal Navy Warrant Officer 1.

Officers mariniers / Non-commissioned Officers

• Maître principal, in English: "Principal Master", is equivalent to a Royal Navy Warrant Officer 2.
• Premier maître, in English: "First Master", is equivalent to a Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer
• Maître, in English: "Master", is is equivalent to a Royal Navy Petty Officer.
• Second-maître, in English: "Second Master", is is equivalent to a Royal Navy Petty Officer, but more junior.

Militaires du rang (équipage)- Junior ranks

• Quartier-maître de première classe, in English: "Quarter-master First Class" is equivalent to a Royal Navy Leading Seaman
• Quartier-maître de deuxième classe, in English: "Quarter-master Second Class" is equivalent to a Royal Navy Able Seaman
• Matelot breveté, in English: "Certified Mate", is equivalent to a Royal Navy Ordinary Seaman

Equipment

Ships

Aircraft carriers

• 1 Louis XIV class supercarrier
  • 50 Dassault Rafale M multirole fighters
  • 15 Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard attack aircraft
  • 11 Eurocopter Dauphin SA 365C transport/utility helicopters
  • 4 E-2C Hawkeye AEW aircraft
  • 2 Aérospatiale N 262 twin-prop transports
  • 6 Aérospatiale Super Frelon heavy transport helicopters
    • 3 SA 321G ASW helicopters
    • 3 SA 321Ga utility/assault helicopters
  • 12 Eurocopter Panther utility helicopters
    • 4 AS 565 UA/UB utility helicopters
    • 4 AS 565 MA/MB naval search and rescue helicopters
    • 4 AS 565 SA/SB ASW helicopters