The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale ("National Navy") and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boat

Patrol boat

A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties.There have been many designs for patrol boats. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, or police force, and may be intended for marine and/or estuarine or river environments...

s to a nuclear power

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

ed aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 and 10 nuclear-powered submarine

Nuclear submarine

A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor . The performance advantages of nuclear submarines over "conventional" submarines are considerable: nuclear propulsion, being completely independent of air, frees the submarine from the need to surface frequently, as is necessary for...

s, four of which are capable of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles

Submarine-launched ballistic missile

A submarine-launched ballistic missile is a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead that can be launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles each of which carries a warhead and allows a single launched missile to...

. The total displacement of the navy (2002) is approx. 490,000 tons, making the French navy one of the largest in the world.

Its motto is Honneur, Patrie, Valeur, Discipline ("Honour, Fatherland, Valour, Discipline") and these words are found on the deck of every ship in the fleet.
The French navy is affectionately known as La Royale ("the Royal").