This is a new record for Naval Group, which has never delivered a nuclear-powered submarine so quickly. The Tourville, whose first outing at sea took place on July 12, was officially received on November 16 by the Directorate General of Armament, which immediately handed it over to the French Navy. Only four months passed between the first exit of the building in front of Cherbourg, where it was built, and its delivery to the French Navy. It took two years for the top seed of the Barracuda program, Suffren, and one year for its first twin, Duguay-Trouin.
Like the latter in July 2023, it is in Brest that the French Navy received its new SNA, which has been evolving since September in the Atlantic and will now be able to join its elders in Toulon, where all the submarines are based. French attack.
Its tests, carried out off the coast of Cherbourg, then Brest and Lorient, took place in several stages. First, a first static dive, that is to say an immersion without powered movement, to check the weight and stability of the submarine; then dynamic surface and diving tests, intended to check the speed of the submarine, and more generally all of its performances and its behavior at different immersion depths, as well as the safety and operation of the installations, including its nuclear boiler room. Finally, the building continued its diving tests to verify the proper functioning of its combat system, including its ability to deploy its weapons and communicate. “Throughout this phase, the unique expertise of the state and industrial teams of the Barracuda program was used to monitor and carry out all the tests, under the leadership of the DGA and the management of the ship by the National Navy. Successfully carried out, these tests made it possible to progressively verify the performance of the submarine's equipment and systems thanks to the collaborative work of a team of experts bringing together sailors, DGA, CEA, Naval Group and TechnicAtome,” explains the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
The French Navy will now be able to begin the operational testing phase of the Tourville with a view to its admission to active service in 2025. These operational tests will make it possible to verify the military performances of the building in conditions of employment close to those of theaters of war. operations.
Meanwhile, construction of the three other SNAs in this series continues on the Naval Group site in Cherbourg. The De Grasse, whose assembly is completed, will leave the large hall of the Laubeuf shipyard next year, with its delivery scheduled for 2026. As for the two others, which will take the names Rubis and Casabianca, they should join in 2028 and 2030 the SNA squadron. This will only have two operational Rubis-type submarines, the Amethyst and the Perle, after the upcoming withdrawal from service of the Émeraude, which has just reached Cherbourg to be decommissioned. The first three units of this series were retired in 2019 (Saphir), 2022 (Rubis) and 2023 (Casabianca).
– see our report aboard the SNA Duguay-Trouin
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