NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Suffren 1980

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Suffren	D602		Arsenal de Brest	12/1962	15.5.1965	20.7.1967	decommissioned 4.2001, breakwater 7.2009
Duquesne	D603		Arsenal de Lorient	11/1964	12.2.1966	1.4.1970	decommissioned 6.2007, breakwater 2009

Technical data

Displacement standard, t	5090
Displacement full, t	6090
Length, m	148.0 pp 157.6 oa
Breadth, m	15.5
Draught, m	7.25
No of shafts	2
Machinery	2 sets Rateau geared steam turbines, 4 Indret boilers
Power, h. p.	72500
Max speed, kts	34
Fuel, t	oil
Endurance, nm(kts)	5100(18)
Armament	1 x 2 Masurca Mk 2 Mod 2.Mod 3 SAM (48 Masurca), 1 x 1 Malafon ASuM (13 Malafon), 2 x 1 - 100/55 Mod 1964, 4 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 4, 4 - 550 torpedo catapults (10 L5)
Electronic equipment	DRBI-23, DRBV-50, 2x DRBR-51, DRBC-32A radars, DUBV-23, DUBV-43 VDS sonars, 2x Syllex decoy RL, SENIT-1 CCS
Complement	355

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

Built under the 1960-65 Plan, these ships marked a radical departure from previous practice both in terms of armament and architecture. Classified as frégates lance-engines (now lance-missiles, FLM), they were designed to provide area defence and anti-submarine protection to the carriers Foch and Clemenceau, and are therefore similar in conception to the US Navy 'frigates' of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the Royal Navy's Type 82 destroyer. They accompanied the French carriers to the Mediterranean Fleet when the latter were transferred from the Atlantic in 1975. Three ships were initially projected, with more to follow, but the programme was cut short by financial pressures related to the SSBN programme.

The Masurca area defence system, which was of French design and manufacture, was fitted only in these ships and the cruiser Colbert. Masurca was initially a beam-rider, but the Mod 3 variant currently in use employs semi-active guidance. The system was upgraded in 1982-85 to prolong its service life into the late 1990s. The DRBI-23 3-D air search and tracking radar is housed within a distinctive radome which dominates the ship's silhouette. Data from the ship's sensors are coordinated by a SENIT-1 tactical data system, and the ships are fitted with three pairs of non-retractable fin stabilizers to ensure a steady weapons platform.

The ASW systems are essentially those trialled on La Galissonière during the early 1960s. The magazine for the single Malafon launcher is housed within the after deckhouse. Suffren was the first ship in the Marine Nationale to employ fixed catapults to launch ASW torpedoes. The four catapults are housed in the deckhouse between the mast and the bridge structure.

Modernizations

1977, Duquesne; 1979, Suffren: - 4 x 1 - 20/70; + 4 x 1 MM38 Exocet SSM (4 MM38)

1985, Duquesne: - DRBV-50 radar; + DRBV-15A radar

1990, Suffren: - DRBV-50, DRBC-32A radars, 2x Syllex decoy RL; + 2 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 4, DRBV-15A, DRBC-33A radars, ARBB-32 ECM suite, 2x Sagaie decoy RL

1991, Duquesne: - DRBC-32A radar, 2x Syllex decoy RL; + 2 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 4, DRBC-33A radar, ARBB-32 ECM suite, 2x Sagaie decoy RL

1998, both: - 1 x 1 Malafon ASuM

2000, both: Masurca SAM became non-operable

Naval service

No significant events.