R91 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, pride of the French Navy, unique model. An 42,500 ton carrier launched in the 1994, entered service in the 2001 and destined to play a fundamental role in the Elysium's strategy against the Islamic State. Starting just short of 48 hours ago from Toulon, it will be in launch position by next Wednesday.
Designed to launch aircraft with 6 strength sea and to carry a maximum of forty Rafale-m, 3 Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye and seven helicopters, the development of the de Gaulle has been characterized by a myriad of problems. The costs meanwhile.
The nuclear carrier cost 18% more than expected, with work interrupted several times. De Gaulle cost 3 billion to French tax payers. Specifically, on the de Gaulle, to works just completed, deficiencies were found in the shielding against radiation emitted by the nuclear reactor. This led to a delay of 15 months on entering the service. The speed then. In the 2000, due to a structural problem found in the propellers during a training mission in the Atlantic, they had to be replaced. Those used, built by Foch e Clemenceau, were technologically not up to par with a speed lower than two knots compared to the previous ones. The speed of the vector dropped from 27 to 25 nodes (no problem with optimal sea conditions). The problem was solved only eight years later. Despite this, the de Gaulle it is slower than its steam counterpart of at least five knots.
La de Gaulle it is however a nuclear-powered vector. This gives it that independence from the logistical support typical of nuclear-powered carriers and an autonomy limited only to stocks of food on board. The French, however, have opted for two K15 reactors that need to be "recharged" every seven years. American nuclear reactors have been designed to last 50 years without any kind of intervention (even if at 25 years there is a first check).
The power finally. There Charles de Gaulle it is not a class Nimitz o Ford. The French carrier is half of the American ones, with a flight deck (oblique 195 meter track, the Nimitz flight deck is 330 meters long) unable to conduct launch and recovery operations at the same time. He can perform 100 flights a day, while his steam catapults can launch an airplane every thirty seconds from the slanted runway. Assembly and take-off cannot be carried out at the same time. The flight deck of the de Gaulleit is simply not long enough.
Designed for a "lightning war", the de Gaulle carries 500 tons of ammunition and fuel for the boarded aircraft group for 45 days. It is evident as the deployment of the de Gaulle however, a constant logistic system is needed, otherwise the air group will be grounded. There de Gaullehowever, it is not just an aircraft carrier. It is a message to the world. Projecting the French strategic power in the globe, it represents the fulcrum of the new policy of Paris.
(photo: Marine nationale)
