FRENCH AIRCRAFT CARRIER

Strange Cosmos ^ | 3/28/03

[darin2risk]

THE PROPELLERS FELL OFF THE ONLY OTHER CARRIER THEY HAVE WHEN THEY LAUNCHED IT!

This is NOT a parody or a spoof---this is TRUE. This French aircraft carrier broke its port propeller on its first long-distance trials. The French Navy announced that a blade on one of the aircraft carrier's two propellers broke off when the 40,000-ton vessel was making its way from Guadeloupe in the French West Indies to the US naval base at Norfolk, Virginia at 25kts. The break occurred in the vessel's port propeller, which weighs 19 tons and measures 5.8m in diameter. Divers were unable to recover the missing blade.

The breakdown, which is the latest in a long line of complications that have beset the Charles de Gaulle since it began sea trials in February 1999, is expected to greatly increase the overall cost of Charles de Gaulle, Europe's only nuclear-powered carrier. The bill currently stands at around Ffr20 billion ($2.7 billion), including Ffr500 million for modifications and repairs to resolve problems that occurred during earlier trials this year.

Among the modifications was a 4.5m extension of the carrier's angled flight deck because the initial design was found to be too short to accommodate the Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft deployed aboard Charles de Gaulle in certain combat situations. That's right-- they built the deck too short to take-off and land the planes! Vive La France....NOT!

[darin2risk]

Searched and didnt see this posted. I thought it was funny

[AppyPappy]

That's because it was posted a year ago.

And it's STILL funny.

[strela]

Is this ANOTHER broken propeller? If memory serves, the De Gaulle already lost one a year or so ago.

[xm177e2]

Apparently not a new one, the same old story

[wimpycat]

They're SCREWS!!! Not propellers, SCREWS!

The press doesn't know anything, I swear.

[spokeshave]

Also the deck house observation windows frosted over.....

If they can't see where they are going....at least any submarine within a thousand miles can hear the racket when the washing machines are turned on....do they realy use washing machines..../sarcasm

[bmwcyle]

Sink it now before it kills its crew.

[dighton]

Big deal, it's not like they use it for anything.

;-)

[TYVets]

I didn't see it the first time around,,,, thanks for the post,,,

where do they attach the surrender flags?

[green team 1999]

at the start of desert storm,the french carrier broke down(the catapult)and spend the war without launching any aircraft!.

[Naspino]

"We are comING to your rrrrescue.. we will be rIGHT there... oui oui... you can rely on ussss."

Thank god know one relies on the French for liberty.

[68skylark]

A lot of this has been reported again and again.

Fortunately, it's always good to read about this again and again.

There was at least one other problem I've read about -- involving laundry machines (of all things!) that vibrated so badly they were threatening to damage the ship.

The whole project was a huge waste and embarassment to the French military (if they are capable of feeling embarassment, which isn't clear).

Thank heaven we don't have to deal with their "help" in the current Iraq war.

[Gordian Blade]

How long did it take them to realize their laundry machines didn't work? Have they tested the showers yet?

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

French carrier

[azhenfud]

Man, that's cruel. A francie with a short deck and broke left pedal.

[Non-Sequitur]

The problems with the de Gaulle go deeper than propellers. The ship is powered by two of the same nuclear reactors used to power the French SSBNs. It turns out that they weren't powerful enough so in order to meet the max speed requirement of 28 knots the French had to incorporate a radical propeller design. The design has left a lot to be desired in terms of reliability.

[sit-rep]

lol...

[CarmichaelPatriot]

Why do the French need an aircraft carrier? So they can surrender away from home?

[ElkGroveDan]

This could be serious. Without a prop screw it would make it impossible to retreat or pull into an enemy port to surrender.

[jpl]

Well, we could use a good laundry ship out in the Gulf right now.