Colbert (C 611)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 1953 |
| Laid down: | December 1953 |
| Launched: | 24 March 1956 in Brest |
| Commissioned: | 5 May 1959 |
| Decommissioned: | May 1991 |
| Fate: | Museum ship |
| Struck: | 1991 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 11,093 tonnes |
| Length: | 180.47 m |
| Draft | 7.90 m |
| Beam: | 20.31 m |
| Propulsion: | 2 TE CEM-Parsons groupes |
| Speed: | 31 knots |
| Range: | 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km) at 25 knots. |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: | *Original version:
|
| Planes | 1 helicopter |
| Motto: | |
The C611 Colbert was an anti-air cruiser, later transformed into a missile cruiser, of the French Navy. It was the sixth French warship to bear the name, after the minister of Louis XIV Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
It was the second of the series of the De Grasse, and became the flagship of the squadron of the Mediterranean Sea in Toulon. In June 1967, it ferried General De Gaulle to Canada (at this occasion he said his famous "vive le Québec libre").
Between 1970 and 1972, it undertook extensive modifications in Brest to become a missile cruiser. Its only war mission was the Gulf War (operation "Salamandre") just before it was decommissioned.
It is now a museum in Bordeaux.
[edit] See also
- French ship Colbert for other ships by the same name
