The
Marine Nationale has a somewhat mixed history with guided missile ships. It obtained its first such ship back to 1962, the same year as the Royal Navy. Further, France has domestically designed and produced two generations of naval surface to air missiles. However, every class of French guided missile ships was cut short for budgetary reasons, resulting in a perpetually undersized fleet, and none of these ships has every fired a missile in anger, leaving their actual combat effectiveness open to question.
The first French guided missile ships were conversions of the
Surcouf-class
escorteurs d'escadre. Originally armed with a heavy battery of six 5" and six 57mm guns, the twelve ships of the
Surcouf-class were the first French destroyers built after WWII and entered service 1955-1957. While France already had an indigenous naval missile program, the United States offered to supply a number of Tartar missile systems free of charge. Four ships were selected for the conversion, losing their 5" guns for a Mk 13 single arm launcher and associated radars. They rejoined the fleet from 1962-1965, and served until 1982-1991. While the actual combat capability of these ships was limited by modern standards, it was a revolutionary capability at the time.
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| Dupetit-Thouars in 1962: 40x Tartar |
The next guided missile ships would be both purpose-built and armed with French weapons. These were the
Suffren-class
frégates. This designation appears to reflect historic American usage of "frigate," as at 158 meters in length they were significantly larger than most destroyers of the period and were intended as front line escorts for the French carriers. Originally, five were planned, but budget shortfall led to only two being built.
Suffren and
Duquesne joined the fleet in 1967 and 1970.
Armament consisted of the Masurca (an acronym for
Marine Surface Contre-Avions) surface to air missile, which was fired from a single twin arm launcher aft and had a range of around 50 kilometers While this was comparable performance to the American Terrier missile, it appears that Masurca may have lacked
Terrier's secondary role as an antiship weapon. The
Suffren-class also carried the Malafon antisubmarine missile. This was a rocket boosted glider that carried a 21" diameter homing torpedo out to a range of roughly 15 kilometers. However, Malafon was bulky missile that had to be individually loaded onto a single rail launcher amidship.
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| Suffren in 1967: 48x Masurca and 13x Malafon |
In 1977 and 1979, this armament was supplemented by four first generation MM38 Exocet antiship missiles. These weapons were carried in single box launchers aft of the Malafon launcher. As the MM38 was just a single stage rocket, it was limited to a range of around 40 kilometers. Interestingly, 1977 was also the year the much longer ranged Harpoon became operational in the United States Navy.
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| Suffren in 1977: 48x Masurca, 13x Malafon, 4x Exocet |
The final change to missile armament of the
Suffren-class came in 1990 and 1991, when Malafon was deemed obsolete and removed. The ships were ultimately decommissioned in 2001 and 2007 after thirty-four and thirty-seven years in service.
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| Suffren in 1990: 48x Masurca, 4x Exocet |
With the
Suffren-class cut short at just two hulls, the French decided to convert the gun cruiser
Colbert into a guided missile ship. Originally commissioned in 1959 as a slightly improved version of the cruiser
De Grasse,
Colbert's original armament consisted of sixteen 5" guns and twenty 57mm guns. When she rejoined the fleet in 1972,
Colbert had been reduced to just two 4" and twelve 57mm guns, but a forty-eight round Masurca launcher had been installed aft.
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| Colbert in 1972: 48x Masurca |
In 1980,
Colbert received four MM38 Exocet missiles in box launchers forward. She served in this configuration until she was decommissioned in 1991 after thirty-two years in service.
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| Colbert in 1980: 48x Masurca, 4x Exocet |
By this point a replacement was needed for the
Surcouf-class missile conversions. To save money, it was decided to make the new ships a variant of the
George Leygues-class antisubmarine frigate, and to arm them with Tarter systems taken from the decommissioning destroyers. This became the
Cassard-class frigate. While four ships were originally intended so as to replace the
Surcouf-class on a one for one basis, only two ships were actually built, entering service in 1988 and 1991.
As mentioned, the main battery of these vessels are the same Mk 13 launchers that the French Navy received in the 1960's, although they now carry SM-1MR instead of Tartar. This is supplemented by two Sadral sextuplet point defense launchers for the Mistral missile (6-kilometer range). The ships also carry eight Exocet MM40 in quadruple box launchers amidships. A significantly larger weapon than the MM38, the MM40 offers a range of roughly 70 kilometers. Both ships are still in service, but are scheduled to be replaced by pair of air defense optimized FREMM's that are currently under construction.
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| Cassard in 1988: 40x SM-1MR, 12x Mistral, 8x Exocet |
But something more capable was needed to replace
Colbert and the
Suffren-class
. Thus, France embarked on a succession of multinational warship schemes that eventually resulted in Project Horizon. Originally intended to produce four destroyers and replace the
Cassard-class as well, ultimately only two were procured. The
Forbin-class were the first French ships armed with a vertical launch system and have forty-eight cells for Aster 30 and Aster 15 as well as two quadruple box launchers for Exocet MM40 Block 3. Aster 30 has a range of 120 kilometers and provides area defense, while Aster 15 has a range of 30 kilometers and is used for self-defense. The Exocet MM40 Block 3 replaces the rocket engine with a turbojet, giving the weapon a range of 180 kilometers.
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| Forbin in 2008: 32x Aster 30, 16x Aster 15, 8x Exocet |
When the
Cassard-class is replaced, France will have an extremely modern and capable force of guided missile ships. However, with a total of just four hulls and one-hundred and sixty VLS cells, the ability of the force to sustain combat in the face of a capable enemy is questionable. Still, French defense planning focuses more on low intensity conflicts and these ships will be more than capable of handling that level of warfare.
