Last June, after having sailed for forty-three years, traveled 800,000 nautical miles and participated in numerous operations [Olifant, Condor, Enduring Freedom, Heracles, Atalante, Corymbe]the high seas patrol vessel [PHM ou aviso] Chief Petty Officer L’Her, twelfth unit of the Estienne d’Orves class, was definitively withdrawn from active service by the French Navy.
Once decommissioned, a ship is generally “deconstructed”. But such was not the fate of the ex-aviso PM L’Her since, on December 17, the French Navy announced that, having previously been “cleaned up”, it had just been sunk by a heavy torpedo. F21 “Artemis”, war maid, launched by a nuclear attack submarine [SNA].
In the images of this experiment, we see that the hull of the ex-aviso was cut in two, before sinking.
“As part of the Polaris approach, of preparation for high intensity, this experiment made it possible to test the capabilities of this new generation weaponry,” explains the French Navy. It “in fact comes as close as possible to reality, and provides unprecedented human and operational lessons,” she added, before emphasizing that the “complexity and demands of the environment in which the participants strengthen the pugnacity of the crews and nourish tactical reflections on the war of tomorrow.”
Intended to replace the F17 Mod 2 model, the F21 heavy torpedo was developed as part of the Artemis program, launched in 2008. Not without difficulty, moreover. In fact, it was first a question of establishing cooperation with Italy. Finally, another industrial plan was put in place, with the involvement of Naval Group, Thales Underwater Systems [TUS] for acoustic guidance, Eurenco for the military load and the German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems [TKMS].
Expected for 2016, the first F-21 torpedoes were delivered to the French Navy three years late. However, all the difficulties had not yet been resolved. In 2021, the General Delegate for Armaments, who was then Joël Barre, mentioned problems not only with TKMS [concurrent direct de Naval Group, ndlr] but also with the French industrialist and its Saint-Tropez site, “which was not of extraordinary industrial and technical efficiency”.
Whatever the case, the F21 was able to demonstrate its effectiveness by sending the 1,200 tonnes of the ex-aviso PM L’Her to the bottom. To equip the SNA of the Suffren and Rubis classes, as well as the four nuclear missile submarines of the Strategic Oceanic Force [Fost]this “complex ammunition” has a diameter of 533 mm and a length of 6 meters. Equipped with two sets of propellers and an acoustic autoguidance system giving it the ability to detect and follow an objective autonomously, it is also connected to the submarine by an optical fiber, which allows it to be guided towards its target. With a range of 27 nautical miles, it can reach speeds of 50 knots.
This torpedo shot probably heralds others. “Given the tightening of the international context and the putting into service of the latest generation of complex munitions, it now appears relevant and possible to resort again, on an ad hoc basis, to such weapons experiments at sea,” he said. argues the Ministry of the Armed Forces, via a press release.
“This firing was carried out in compliance with France’s international commitments, thanks to the progress made in the treatment of old hulls,” he insisted.
Photo : Marine nationale
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