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FS Suffren (D602)

1967 COLD WAR

FS Suffren (D602) Story

FS Suffren (D602) commanded this two-person formation of defense-oriented Suffren-class frigates for the French Navy during the Cold War. The warship was built by the Lorient Arsenal, laid on 21 December 1962 and launched on 15 May 1965.

She officially entered service on October 1, 1967, and served in the French Navy until her retirement in 2008. During her career, the ship's home ports were in Lorient, Brest and Toulon. She was named after the French Admiral Pierre-Andre de Suffren (1729-1788).

FS Suffren entered service as the first warships in the French Navy with a broad missile launch capability, classifying these ships as guided missile frigates. The class was designed as a direct counterpart to the French fleet's Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers.

At the time of construction, the FS Suffren carried 23 officers and 337 non-commissioned officers and ranks. Dimensions include an overall length of 518 feet, a beam of 50.9 feet and a draft of 23.8 feet.

The ship's profile includes a stepped bridge superstructure, a large radome, a midship-mounted main mast and a smaller, more restrained stern secondary superstructure. It is not intended to launch or receive helicopters on Suffren. Her propulsion scheme was directed by 4 steam boilers feeding 4 72,500 hp turbines on 2 shafts.

The top speed can reach 34 knots.

As a multi-role frigate, Suffren is equipped with a variety of weapon systems to deal with naval threats from the air, sea or underwater. As such, she carried a twin Masuka launcher and 48 surface-to-air missiles, 4 launchers for MM.38 Flying Fish anti-ship missiles and a single launcher for Malafon anti-submarine missile torpedoes. Another anti-submarine measure is the four launchers of the L5 system and the ten torpedoes it carries.

More conventional weapons include 2 x 100mm turret deck guns (mounted on the foredeck), 4 x 20mm automatic cannons and 4 x 12.7mm machine guns.

Airborne systems include DRBI-23 radar (large dome above bridge superstructure), ARBR-33 series jammer, ARBR-17 series detector kit, SLQ-25 "Nixie" torpedo decoy, and a pair of Sagaies Decoy launcher.

FS Suffren is the sister ship of FS Duquesne. Like Suffren, Duquesne retired in 2008.