French Navy

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## French Navy

French Naval Ensign. As seen here, the flag has slightly different proportions compared to the national French flag. The red bar is larger than the other two.

## Information

### Personnel

44,000

The **French Navy**, known as the ***Marine Nationale*** in French, is the maritime force of France, and one of four branches in the French military. Its combined fleet tonnage is ranked 7th in the world, making it among one of the strongest navies in the world. It’s additionally the only navy other than the United States Navy to have a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

It mainly consists of six components, with those being: the Naval Action Force, French Naval Aviation, the Navy Riflemen, the Submarine Forces, the Naval Gendarmerie, and the Marseille Naval Fire Battalion. In addition, it also has a number of 44,000 personnel, with 37,000 of those being military personnel, and the remaining 6,000 being civilian personnel.

Unlike most major maritime forces, the French Navy does not use a ship prefix. Although “FS” is used worldwide to describe French ships in an informal manner, it is not officially used on any level in the French Navy. When referring to French ships, most articles and websites would typically use “French (ship class) (ship name)” to denote them.

The French Navy is a blue-water navy, meaning it can participate in global naval operations if necessary. This also means it can exert a large presence overseas, which also adds with France’s overseas territories that are found throughout the various continents. The navy’s main force for these operations is the Charles de Gaulle, which is France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

## History

The French Navy was founded in 1624 in the Kingdom of France by Cardinal Richelieu, and he watched over the navy until eventually dying in 1643. After the cardinal’s death, the French Navy would be watched over by Colbert and Marquis de Seignelay for another 29 years. During the 17th century, it also fought in several wars and battles, with the most notable ones being the Thirty Years' Wars and the Nine Years' War.

The 1700s had already began with several wars, followed by the Seven Years' Wars that’d completely destroyed the French Navy. It took several decades to finally recreate the navy, and when it did, the navy would participate in the American Revolutionary War. Despite this, it was eventually destroyed after the Napoleon had overthrown the Bourbon government. Towards the end of the 18th century, it was used for the French Expedition to Ireland.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the French Navy was extremely weak, and although attempts were made by Napoleon himself to rebuild it, it was still weak. Because of this, the UK’s Royal Navy remained superior throughout the Napoleonic Era. Once the First French Empire fell, the navy soon began to recover.

In 1830, Charles X, the King of France, sent a large fleet to Algiers to capture it and annex the region of Algeria. The navy also participated in the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de La Plata starting in 1845. In 1854, Napoleon III would participate in the Crimean War on the side of the Ottoman Empire. In addition to this, it also efficiently blockaded Germany during the Franco-Prussian of 1870.

In the late 19th century, France’s navy had participated in the Sino-French War in 1884 and then the Franco-Siamese War in 1893. During the 1800s, the French Navy had introduced the Paixhans gun, which was highly effective at the time. It had also introduced a lot of naval artillery improvements during the time, proving its significance.

Towards the start of the 20th century, the French Navy created the first seaplane, named the Fabre Hydravion. To accompany it, the first seaplane carrier, named the Foundre, was also created in the early 20th century. Meanwhile, it was in the middle of a naval arms race with Germany and the United Kingdom.

Throughout most of the Great War, France had mainly exerted its naval force across the Mediterranean, keeping its eyes on the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the process. They also bombarded Athens using their navy on December of 1916, and primarily just had a strong influence across the sea.

During the Interwar period, France’s navy would continue to improve, modernizing with the other stronger navies such as the United States Navy and the Royal Navy. It had even went through the Five-Powers Treaty and continued developing the navy. During the Second World War, it had involved its navy in a plethora of different battles and operations.

When France was annexed by Germany in 1940, it was unable to use its navy due to it being mandatory for it to be neutral throughout the war. During the Navy Battle of Casablanca, the Germans’ goal were to seize the capital ships of France, but they were sunk intentionally before they could do so. Several naval units also managed to survive the battle, and evacuated to the Free French Naval Forces.

During the 21st century, France’s navy has participated in several international operations with the superpowers, with some of the most prominent examples being the War on Terror and the War in Afghanistan.

## Mission

According the the French Navy’s website, their mission is to ensure the safety of the French and to intervene in any crisis areas in need. In addition, they also have sensors across the world allow them to know when to prevent or let be any naval situation.

## Equipment

As stated before, French naval units do *not* have a ship prefix. On this wiki and worldwide, “FS” is used, denoting “French Ship.” As of 2023, the French Navy controls 189 ships and submarines, and its combined fleet tonnage puts its at 7th place worldwide. It has one nuclear powered aircraft carrier, named the Charles de Gaulle, making it the only navy other than the United States Navy to have a nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

As of 2023, France controls 9 submarines, with the most recent addition being the Duguay-Trouin in 2023. It also has 3 amphibious assault ships, and 15 patrol ships. It also has several tank ships and countermeasure vessels to assist its naval units in many different operations.

### Aircraft

The French Naval Aviation has access to 178 aircraft as of 2023, and has 6,800 personnel.

1. ↑ Not officially used by the French Navy, but used informally worldwide.