French frigate Tourville (D 610)

Career (France)
Namesake: Anne Hilarion de Tourville
Laid down: 16 March 1970
Launched: 13 May 1973
Commissioned: 14 June 1975
Decommissioned: 11 June 2011
Homeport: Brest
Fate: Decommissioned
General characteristics
Class and type: Tourville class frigate
Displacement: 4580 tonnes (6100 tonnes fully loaded)
Length: 152.75 m
Beam: 15.80 m
Draught: 6.60 m
Propulsion:

2 Rateau steam turbines, double reduction
4 multitubular boilers
Fuel: Gazoil
Propellers : 2 fixed propellers

Power : 58000 hp (42630 kW)
Speed: 32 knots (59 km/h)
Range:

1900 nautical miles (3500 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h)

4500 nautical miles (8300 km) and 18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement:

24 officers
160 non-commissioned officers

115 men
Sensors and
processing systems:

Detection

  • 1 DRBV 51B surface sentry radar
  • 1 DRBV 26A air sentry radar
  • 1 DRBC 32D targeting radar
  • 2 DRBN 34 navigation radars
  • 1 DUBV 23 hull sonar
  • 1 ETBF DSBV 62C sonar
  • 1 DSBX 1 tugged sonar
  • 1 Syva torpedo alert system

Tactical information

  • SENIT 3
  • SEAO/OPSMER

Transmissions

  • HF, UHF, VHF and SHF liaison systems
  • Syracuse 2
  • Inmarsat
  • Link 11
Electronic warfare
and decoys:

1 ARBB 32 jammer
1 ARBR 16 radar interceptor
2 Syllex decoy launchers

bubble belt
Armament:

Anti-ship;

  • 6 × Exocet MM38 anti-ship missiles

Anti-submarine;

  • 2 × L5 torpedo launchers, 10 torpedoes on board (L5 mod 4)

Guns;

  • 2 × 100 mm turrets (1968 model)
  • 2 × 20 mm cannons
  • 4 × 12.7 mm machine guns

CIWS;

  • 1 x Crotale EDIR CIWS anti-air missiles (8 missiles on launcher, 16 in magazine)
Aircraft carried:

The Tourville is a F67 type large high-sea frigates of the French Marine Nationale specialised in anti-submarine warfare, though it also has anti-air and anti-surface capabilities. She is named after the XVIIth Century admiral count Anne-Hilarion de Cotentin de Tourville.

Between 1994 and 1996, the Tourville (and the De Grasse) was refitted with the modern SLAMS anti-submarine system, an active Very Low Frequencies sonar.

The frigate Tourville was part of the French naval task group led by the Charles de Gaulle that departed Toulon on 30 October 2010 for a four-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean. and Persian Gulf.[1][2] The task group commander, Rear Admiral Jean-Louis Kerignard, defined force's mission as follows:

The force would help allied navies fight piracy off the coast of Somalia and send jets to support NATO in the skies above Afghanistan."[3]

Once on station, the Charles de Gaulle carrier task group joined two U.S. Navy carrier strike groups led by the Nimitz class aircraft carrier aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) operating in the Persian Gulf.[3] Subsequently, between 7–14 January 2011, the French carrier task group led by the Charles de Gaulle participated with bilateral naval exercise, code named Varuna 10, with the Indian Navy. Indian naval units participating in Varuna 10 included the aircraft carrier Viraat, the frigates Godavari and Ganga; and the diesel-electric submarine Shalki. Varuna 10 was a two-phase naval exercise, with the harbor phase taking place between 7–11 January and the sea phase between 11–14 January in the Arabian Sea.[2]

Gallery

References

  1. ^ "Fifth Deployment for French Charles de Gaulle Aircraft Carrier". defpros.news. Defense Professional. November 3, 2010. http://www.defpro.com/news/details/19346/. Retrieved 2010-11-12. 
  2. ^ a b Vivek Ragahuvanshi (January 6, 2011). "Indo-French Naval Exercises Set To Start". DefenseNews. http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5390485&c=SEA&s=TOP. Retrieved 2011-01-10. 
  3. ^ a b "French warship to join US fleet in PG". France. PressTV. October 28, 2010. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/148623.html. Retrieved 2010-11-12.