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| French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft |
Charles de Gaulle (R91) is the flagship of the French Navy (Marine Nationale) and the largest Western European carrier. She is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface, and the first and so far only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside the United States Navy.
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| French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft |
The carrier replaced Foch, a conventionally powered aircraft carrier in 2001. Clemenceau and Foch were completed in 1961 and 1963 respectively, the requirement for a replacement was identified in the mid-1970s.
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| French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft |
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| French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft |
Construction quickly fell behind schedule when the project was starved of funding by the economic downturn worsened in the early 1990s. The total cost for the vessel would top € 3 billion. Work on the ship was completely suspended four times: 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1995. The ship was commissioned on May 18, 2001, five years after the projected deadline.
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| French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft |
Charles de Gaulle entered sea trials in 1999. This highlighted the need to expand the cockpit to safely operate the E-2C Hawkeye. This operation led to negative publicity, however, if the same tests were performed on both Foch and Clemenceau when the F-8E (FN) Crusader fighter had been introduced. The five million francs for the expansion was 0.025% of the total budget for Charles de Gaulle project.
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| French Charles de Gaulle Class Aircraft |
