French frigate Suffren (D602)
_underway_in_1983.JPEG) Suffren in 1983 | |
| Career (France) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Suffren |
| Namesake: | Pierre André de Suffren |
| Builder: | Lorient arsenal |
| Laid down: | 21 December 1962 |
| Launched: | 15 May 1965 |
| Commissioned: | 1 October 1967 |
| Decommissioned: | 2008 |
| In service: | 1 April 1969 |
| Out of service: | 2 April 2001 |
| Homeport: |
Lorient Brest (since 1 April 1969) Toulon (since November 1975) |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Suffren-class frigate |
| Displacement: | 5335 tonnes 6780 full load |
| Length: | 158 m (518 ft) |
| Beam: | 15.50 m (50.9 ft) |
| Draught: | 7.25 m (23.8 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 4 steam boilers and 4 turbines for 2 propellers; 72500 hp 3440 kW, 2 turbo-alternators and 3 diesel-alternators |
| Speed: | 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) |
| Complement: | 23 officers 337 petty officers and sailors |
| Sensors and processing systems: | DRBI23 tridimentional sentry radar DRBV15 surface or low-altitude sentry radar |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: | 2 "Sagaie" decoy launchers SLQ-25 Nixie |
| Armament: | 1 twin launcher of surface-air Masurca missiles (DRBR51-guided) (48 missiles) 4 launchers of MM38 Exocet missiles (4 missiles) |
Suffren was a Suffren-class frigate of the French Navy, designed to protect a fleet against air threats, surface ships, submarines, and, to a lesser extent, provide firepower against land objectives. She is the sister-ship of Duquesne, and was decommissioned in 2001. She was the seventh French vessel named after the 18th century admiral Pierre André de Suffren; her artillery turrets are named after ships commanded by the marquis of Suffren: turret n°1 is named Héros ("hero") after the ship of the line Héros, and turret n°2 is named Fantasque, after the ship of the line Fantasque.
The French navy doesn't use the term "destroyer" for its ships; thus some large ships, such as Suffren, referred to as "frigates", are registered as destroyers. With her sister-ship, she was the first missile-launching destroyer of the French Navy. She was designed to protect the French aircraft carriers Foch and Clemenceau against air and submarine threats. In 2001, Suffren was put in the reserve, her machinery becoming too expensive to maintain.
The dome-like structure surrounding the DRBI23 radar is reminiscent of the Dutch Tromp-class guided missile frigates and has on occasion led to confusion when identifying between the two ship classes.
External links
Media related to Suffren (D602) at Wikimedia Commons
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