French submarine Redoutable (S611)

The Le Redoutable (S 611 ) was the lead ship of the Redoutable class. The 1971 entered service in Le Redoutable was the first nuclear -powered submarine of the French Navy.

The Le Redoutable was decommissioned in 1991 and is now the largest publicly issued museum submarine in the world.

History

The construction of the submarine was decided in March 1963. The first nuclear-powered submarine of France was independently developed without foreign aid. After 5 years of construction, the new building from 1969 an intensive testing has been subjected. The Le Redoutable was provided by the French nuclear forces into service on 1 December 1971. The home base was the Ile Longue off Brest.

The boat was initially armed with 16 M 1 rocket, but was soon equipped with the 700 km wider M 2. Both types of rockets had the same nuclear warhead with a cargo of 500 kT.

In the 1980s Le Redoutable was modernized. It was equipped with M 20 missiles. These missiles had a new warhead with a charge of 1.2 MT. The sonar equipment and the electronics have been improved and the boat capable to shoot Exocet anti-ship missiles by the torpedo discharge tubes. That was the last modernization of the submarine. The Le Redoutable was the only submarine of its class, which was no longer armed with the introduced from 1985 M 4 missiles.

The Le Redoutable (S 611 ) was found after 20 years of service and 51 patrols on 13 December 1991 out of service. It is issued since 2000 in the Cité de la Mer in Cherbourg as a museum ship.