The French Navy Is Getting A New Aircraft Carrier. It Needs Two

The French navy should get a new aircraft carrier in 2038. The vessel would replace the fleet’s current and only flattop Charles de Gaulle.

Problem is, France needs two carriers, not one.

French defense minister Florence Parly announced the new carrier’s planned commissioning date during a mid-May visit to Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire.

“It is here, in Saint-Nazaire, that the new generation aircraft carrier will be built, which will succeed the Charles de Gaulle in 2038,” Parly said.

The new carrier’s sea trials could begin in 2036, Parly added.

Parly’s comments underscore the reality that the French navy can expect to build just one carrier to replace Charles de Gaulle. That’s less than ideal.

Taking into account the demands of maintenance, training and transit, it takes two or three ships to keep one on deployment. It’s not for no reason that the U.S. Navy maintains 11 carriers in order to deploy six within 30 days of a crisis plus a seventh within 90 days. Likewise, China is building four or more carriers in order to keep at least one on station.

But it can cost $10 billion or more to build a new carrier plus millions of dollars annually to operate it. Smaller navies often make do with just two aviation ships capable of supporting fixed-wing planes.

The Royal Navy has two flattops. Japan has two former amphibious assault ships that it’s modifying to embark F-35B stealth jump jets. The Italian navy has a carrier and also is building an amphibious assault ship that can operate F-35Bs.

France until 1997 possessed two carriers of the Clemenceau class. Clemenceau decommissioned in 1997. Sister ship Foch left service in 2000, around the same time Charles de Gaulle was ready for her maiden voyage.

As recently as 2018, Paris left open the possibility of acquiring two new carriers, noted Nick Childs, a fellow at the The International Institute for Strategic Studies. “When questioned about it, Pres. [Emmanuel] Macron left open the issue of the number of carriers France will have in the future, saying that would be decided in 2020 based on the threat assessment and the necessary responses.”

“Given the resource implications, in particular, it will be a difficult dilemma for French navy planners as to how and when to press the argument—as many in the navy would clearly like to do—that having two such platforms in the future makes much more strategic sense than just one,” Childs added.

With just one carrier, the French navy will go long periods of time without any carrier on the maritime front line.

Russia has a similar problem, only worse. The sole Russian flattop—the aging, unreliable Admiral Kuznetsov—deploys only rarely between frequent fatal accidents.