The Suffren type anti-air frigates are first-rank destroyers of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

, designed to protect a fleet against air threats, surface ships, submarines, and, to a lesser extent, provide fire power against land objectives. They were the first French ships to be built specifically as guided missile frigates.

Design

The two ships were designed as escorts for the Clemenceau-class

Clemenceau class aircraft carrier

The Clemenceau class aircraft carrier are a pair of aircraft carriers which served in the French Navy from 1961 through 2000, and of which one currently remains in active service with the Brazilian Navy...

 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...

s and are similar in concept to the British Type 82 destroyer

Type 82 destroyer

The Type 82 or Bristol-class destroyer was to be a class of four Royal Navy warships intended as area air-defence destroyers to replace the County-class destroyers, and to serve as escorts to the planned CVA-01 aircraft carriers...

. The French class designation is FLE 60. The primary weapon is the Masurca

Masurca

The Masurca missile was a first generation naval surface-to-air missile system developed and used by the French Navy. Planned as the primary air defence missile system of the first generation of French guided missile ships it was to be used only aboard the two Suffren-class destroyers and as a...

 surface to air missiles which are launched from a twin launcher on the quarter deck. 48 missiles were carried. Fire control was via the DRBI 23 3D radar housed in a massive radome. Anti submarine weapons include a Malafon

Malafon

Malafon was a French ship-launched anti-submarine missile system. Developed in the 1950s and 60s, the weapon was intended to take advantage of the greater detection ranges possible with towed sonar arrays. The missile entered service in 1966 and was manufactured by Groupe LatécoèreThe weapon is...

 anti submarine missile system (13 missiles carried) and torpedo catapults. Exocet missiles were fitted in 1977-79 replacing the Malafon.

Both ships were modernised with the fitting of new electronics in the early 1990s, with Suffren the first to undergo the process between in 1989-90, followed by Duquesne between 1990-91.

Ships

The two ships of the class are both named after French admirals. Three ships were initially planned with more in a follow-on group but budgetary constraints caused by building the nuclear deterrent submarines caused the programme to be terminated at two ships.

Ship	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned
D602 Suffren	Arsenal de Brest	December 1962	15 May 1965	20 July 1967	2001
D603 Duquesne	Arsenal de Lorient	November 1964	12 February 1966	1 April 1970	2007