The French Navy has accepted the third Tourville nuclear attack submarine of the Suffren project into the fleet.
This was announced by the Minister of the French Armed Forces Sébastian Lecornu during the official announcement of the acceptance of the boat into the fleet.
This happened after a year of testing and completion, which were carried out at the Naval Group shipyard, the main manufacturer of submarines of this type.
The construction of the ship began on June 28, 2011 at the shipyard in Cherbourg. After a ten-year assembly process, the hull was taken out of the shop on July 20, 2023, and on April 24, 2024, the first nuclear criticality was reached on board the K15 reactor, marking preparation for sea trials.
Tourville’s first sea trials took place on July 12, 2024 in the English Channel. On July 17, the boat made its first dive. By the end of the month, it returned to Cherbourg for refinement.
After completing a series of sea trials and combat tests, Tourville was officially handed over to the French Navy on November 16, 2024, and on November 27 arrived at the base port in Toulon, where it underwent final improvements in dry dock.
On July 5, 2025, the Minister announced the official acceptance of the boat into the fleet. It was made fully operational for combat use anywhere in the world.
Tourville has a displacement of about 4,700 tons in the surface position and more than 5,200 tons in the submerged position. The length is approximately 99 meters.
Thanks to the K15 nuclear reactor, the submarine has an almost unlimited range, limited only by food supplies and crew endurance – up to about 70 days of autonomous navigation. The underwater speed exceeds 25 knots and the immersion depth is over 350 meters. The crew consists of approximately 65 people with the ability to accommodate an additional group of special forces.
Tourville’s armament includes modern 533 mm heavy F21 Artemis torpedoes, Exocet SM39 anti-ship missiles, and MdCN cruise missiles capable of hitting ground targets at a range of up to 1,000 km.
In addition to strike weapons, the boat is equipped with the latest hydroacoustic equipment, digital fire control systems, has a reduced acoustic profile and the ability to land divers or special forces.
Earlier, Militarnyi reported that a steel cutting ceremony had been held at the Naval Group shipyard for the construction of a new generation nuclear submarine with ballistic missiles of the SNLE 3G program.
