French submarine Casabianca (S603)

Career (France)
Namesake: Casabianca (Q183)
Laid down: 19 September 1981 [1]
Launched: 22 December 1984
Christened: as Bourgogne
Commissioned: 13 May 1987
In service: 21 april 1987
Renamed: renamed Casabianca
Homeport: Toulon
Fate: In active service
General characteristics
Class and type: Rubis class submarine
Displacement: 2670 t (2385 t surfaced)
Length: 73.6 m
Beam: 7.6 m
Draught: 6.4 m
Propulsion:

Pressurised water K48 nuclear reactor (48 MW) ; 2 turbo-alternators ; 1 electric engine (7 MW); one propeller

1 diesel-alternators SEMT Pielstick 8 PA 4V 185 SM; one auxiliary engine, 5 MW.
Speed: over 25 knots (46 km/h)
Range: 8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km)
Endurance: 60 days
Test depth: over 300 m
Complement:

8 officers
52 warrant officers

8 petty officers
Sensors and
processing systems:

DMUX 20 multifonction
ETBF DSUV 62C tugged antenna
DSUV 22 microphone system

DRUA 33 radar
Electronic warfare
and decoys:
ARUR 13
Armament:

[2][3] 4 x 533mm rapid-recharge tubes.

  • total mixed load of 14;
    • F17 mod2 torpedoes
    • 14 Exocet SM39
  • Mines

The Casabianca (ex-Bourgogne) is a first-generation nuclear attack submarine of the French Navy. She is named in honour of the famous submarine of the Free French Naval Forces Casabianca.

She is the third of the Rubis series. Between 1993 and June 1994, she undertook a major refitting which upgraded her to the level of the Améthyste, arming her for anti-submarine as well as anti-surface ship warfare.[1][2] Her underwater endurance is 60 days, dictated by food supplies. She is designed to operate at seas 220 days per year, and is thus staffed by two crews that relay each other from one patrol or exercise to the next.[1]

Among the Casabianca's operational highlights are its being the first French submarine to visit the naval base at Severomorsk, home of the Russian Northern Fleet, in 2003; and patrols in the Mediterranean and in the Indian Ocean as part of the fleet surrounding the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle, such as in 2007.[3]

During the Péan inter-allied maneuvers of 1998, Casabianca managed to "sink" USS Eisenhower and her Ticonderoga class escort cruiser USS Anzio.[3]

Notes and references