French frigate Suffren (D602)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Suffren.

Suffren in 1983 Suffren in 1983
History
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 & 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 DRBC33 multi-system targeting radar DRBN34 DRBR51
Electronic warfare & decoys:	2 "Sagaie" decoy launchers SLQ-25 Nixie ARBR33 jammer ARBR17 detector
Armament:	1 twin launcher of surface-air Masurca missiles (DRBR51-guided) (48 missiles) 4 launchers of MM38 Exocet missiles (4 missiles) 1 launcher of Malafon anti-submarine rocket torpedoes 4 launchers of L5 anti-submarine torpedoes (10 torpedoes) 2 100 mm turrets 4 × 20 mm cannons 4 × 12,7 mm machine guns

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 at Wikimedia Commons