OceanShooter : Ship and Boat

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Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 4)
Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 4. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 4.
Aircraft Carrier. Charles de Gaulle's first major overhaul began in September 2007. The highlight of this 15-month refit was the refueling of the nuclear power plant, a necessary step after six years in service, during which Charles de Gaulle sailed the equivalent of 12 times around the world, spent 900 days at sea, and performed 19,000 catapult launches. Several improvements will also be made, including the installation of new propellers. These will allow the Charles de Gaulle to reach her design speed of 27 knots, replacing the vintage propellers used as a stop-gap since 2001. Aircraft maintenance and weapons stores will also be upgraded to allow operation of new Rafale F3 fighters armed with ASMP-A nuclear missiles and SCALP EG cruise missiles, and satellite communications bandwidth will be increased tenfold. The refit was completed in December 2008 but following technical problems in March 2009 the carrier is back in Toulon for repairs. Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 4). Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 4. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 4. An intensive work-up period is planned to bring the Charles de Gaulle and her airgroup back to operational status. On 14 October 2010, a four month cruise was cut down to a single day when the ship suffered an electrical fault in its propulsion system. The French Navy is theoretically a two-carrier navy, mainly to ensure that at least one ship is operational at all times even if the other is under repair. This scheme requires another aircraft carrier to be built though, as the Charles de Gaulle is the only aircraft carrier currently serving. Cost considerations have made equipment standardization a necessity. In this context, there is a possibility of collaboration with Britain for future aircraft carriers and Thales made the design for the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier, which may be modified as the Future French aircraft carrier. Steps have been taken by both countries to make such a scenario possible: the new carrier had to be conventionally propelled to meet the requirements of the Royal Navy. France favours nuclear propulsion, and a study is being conducted to see if it is more cost efficient than gas turbines. Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 4). Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 4. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 4.

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Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 3)
Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 3. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 3.
Aircraft Carrier. During the night of 9 November 2000, in the Western Atlantic while en route toward Norfolk, Virginia, the port propeller broke and the ship had to return to Toulon to replace the faulty unit. The investigations that followed showed similar structural faults in the other propeller and in the spare propellers: bubbles in the one-piece copper-aluminium alloy propellers near the centre. The fault was blamed on the supplier, Atlantic Industries, which had already gone bankrupt. To make matters worse, all documents relating to the design and fabrication of the propellers had been lost in a fire. Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 3). Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 3. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 3. As a temporary solution, the less advanced spare propellers of Clemenceau and Foch were used, limiting the maximum speed to 24 knots (44 km/h) instead of the contractual 27 knots (50 km/h). On 5 March 2001, Charles de Gaulle went back to sea with two older propellers and sailed 25.2 knots (47 km/h) on her trials. Between July and October, Charles de Gaulle had to be refitted once more due to abnormal noises, as loud as 100 dB, near the starboard propeller, which had rendered the aft part of the ship uninhabitable. On 8 November 2001, a sailor performing a routine maintenance task lost consciousness due to a toxic gas leak. A non-commissioned officer attempted to rescue him and collapsed as well. They were rescued by the on-board medical team and sent to Toulon Hospital. Both survived. Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 3). Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 3. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 3.

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Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 2)
Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 2. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 2.
Aircraft Carrier. Construction quickly fell behind schedule as the project was starved of funding, which was worsened by the economic recession in the early 1990s. Total costs for the vessel would top €3 billion. Work on the ship was suspended altogether on four occasions: 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1995. The ship was commissioned on 18 May 2001, five years behind the projected deadline. In 1993, it was alleged by The Guardian that a group of engineers inspecting the vessel during her construction were British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) operatives, believed to have been evaluating the method of shielding the nuclear reactors, amongst other technical details. However, the newspaper published a denial by both the British government and the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST) (in English: Directorate of Territorial Surveillance) that there had been any incident. Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 2). Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 2. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 2. The carrier-borne aircraft programme Rafale is being furthered. In its first version (standard F1), the Rafale has been operational since June 2004. For the moment, the aircraft only possesses interception capabilities but will receive day and night all-weather precision strike weapons in its next versions (F2 and F3) as well as a tactical data link (L16). In the F2 version air-to-ground capabilities are included and the F3 version will receive, among other things, air-to-surface warfare equipment, a new day and night high resolution reconnaissance sensor and provide nuclear deterrent through the ASMPA missile. Charles de Gaulle entered sea trials in 1999. These identified the need to extend the flight deck to safely operate the E-2C Hawkeye. This operation sparked negative publicity, however, as the same tests had been conducted on both Foch and Clemenceau when the F-8E(FN) Crusader fighter had been introduced. The 5 million francs for the extension was 0.025% of the total budget for Charles de Gaulle project. On 28 February 2000, a nuclear reactor trial triggered the combustion of additional isolation elements, producing a smoke incident. Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 2). Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 2. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 2.

image dimensions : 1092 x 682

Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 1)
Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 1. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 1.
Aircraft Carrier. Charles de Gaulle (R91) is the only serving French aircraft carrier and is the flagship of the French Navy (Marine Nationale). She is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the first and so far only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside of the United States Navy. She is named after French statesman and general Charles de Gaulle. The ship carries a complement of Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard, Dassault Rafale M and E-2C Hawkeye aircraft, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles. She is the largest European carrier, but smaller than the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. She is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses a shorter version of the catapult system installed on the US Nimitz class carriers, the 75 m C13-3 steam catapult. The carrier replaced Foch, a conventionally-powered aircraft carrier, in 2001. Clemenceau and Foch were completed in 1961 and 1963 respectively; the requirement for a replacement was identified in the mid-1970s. Charles de Gaulle (R91) is the only serving French aircraft carrier and is the flagship of the French Navy, and the first and only nuclear-powered carrier built outside of the United States Navy. Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 1). Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 1. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 1. The hull was laid down in April 1989 at the DCNS Brest naval shipyard, but the construction quickly fell behind schedule as the project was starved of funding, which was worsened by the economic recession in the early 1990s. Work on the ship was suspended altogether on four occasions: 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1995. The ship was commissioned on 18 May 2001, five years behind the projected deadline. The ship suffered difficulties during its sea trials including a propulsion failure and abnormal vibration in the main engines. In 1998, engineering spaces were retrofitting to reduce excessive radiation doses during normal operation. The hull was laid down in April 1989 at the DCNS Brest naval shipyard. The carrier was completed in May 1994 and at 35,500 tonnes was the largest warship launched in Western Europe since 1951. She was to be named Richelieu in 1986 by the French president at the time, François Mitterrand, after the famous French politician Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal and Duc de Richelieu (following a traditional name for capital ships in the French Navy, see battleship Richelieu for instance). On 7 February 1987, however, after a ferocious row, the name of the ship was changed to Charles de Gaulle by the Gaullist Prime Minister at the time, Jacques Chirac. Charles de Gaulle (R91) (wallpaper 1). Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship images wallpaper gallery 1. Charles de Gaulle (R91) ship pictures and images collection 1.