Admiral Vaujour, Chief of Staff of the French Navy, stated on social media X :
“Today I declared the admission to active service of the Duguay-Trouin, the second submarine of the Suffren class. Faster, more durable, more versatile, more discreet. In the hands of our crews, it will become an outstanding fighter for future operations.“
Duguay-Trouin was rolled out of the submarine construction hall at the Naval Group shipyard in Cherbourg on 26 November 2021 and was delivered in July 2023.
Duguay-Trouin‘s admission to active service comes after sea trial phases which started in March 2023. These phases of Verification of Military Characteristics (also known as shakedown cruises in the US) allow the crew to test the performance and endurance of the vessel as well as the conformity of the equipment to the requested specifications.
During its tests, the Duguay-Trouin sailed in cold and warm waters, with a stopover in Fort-de-France (the capital of the Caribbean island of Martinique, a French overseas territory) in March 2024 marking a first for a Suffren class SSN.
According to a French MoD statement, the Duguay-Trouin, like the first in series, the Suffren, will carry out the same missions as the Rubis-class SSN, with greater capacities. In particular, it has a land strike capacity with the Naval Cruise Missile (MdCN) and a capacity to deploy special forces through a dry deck shelter (DDS).
In October 2021, Naval News was granted access to the first-in-class submarine Suffren and experienced what it is like to step inside a next-generation nuclear-powered attack submarine. Click here to read a more in-depth article about Suffren.
About Suffren-class SSN
Six new attack submarines will form the vanguard of the French Navy (Marine Nationale) for the coming decades. Developed as part of the Barracuda program, the lead boat of the new class, Suffren, was launched in July 2019. The new submarines will offer a massive capability leap over the current Rubis-class boats.
Suffren in numbers:
- Surface displacement: 4,700 tons
- Diving displacement: 5,100 tons
- Length: 99 meters
- Diameter: 8.8 meters
- Maximum depth: > 350 meters
- Speed: > 25 knots
- Armament: naval cruise missiles, F21 heavy-weight wire-guided torpedoes, modernized Exocet SM39 anti-ship missiles, FG-29 mines, D-19 UUV (future development)
- Hybrid propulsion: pressurized water reactor (150MW) derived from the reactors on board the Triomphant-class SSBN and Charles-de-Gaulle aircraft carrier, two propulsion turbines, two turbo generators and two electric motors
- Crew: 63 crew members + approx. 15 commandos
- Endurance: 70 days at sea (or until food supplies run out)
Innovation for naval combat
Suffren-class SSNs are equipped with numerous innovations that allow them to demonstrate differentiating capabilities in many areas. The French Navy’s new class of submarines is able to strike deep behind enemy line all while remaining stealthy thanks to the torpedo tube-launched naval cruise missile (MdCN). The integration of state-of-the-art sensors also gives it superior anti-submarine warfare and intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. The non-penetrating optronic masts (by Safran Electronic and Defense) are a disruptive technology. They bring unmatched high quality (4K) imagery and every sailor in the CIC can access them. Finally, these submarines comes with systems that facilitate the deployment of naval special forces. In particular, the Dry Deck Shelter, a removable deck hangar, allows the deployment of the new PSM3G swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV) and a dozen combat swimmers.
