"The lead ship of the Suffren-class, FS Suffren D602 led a long service life for the French Navy - commissioned in 1967 and retired in 2008."
Power & Performance Those special qualities that separate one sea-going vessel design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for FS Suffren (D602).
4 x Steam boilers feeding 4 x Turbines developing 72,500 horsepower to 2 x Shafts; Also 2 x Turbo-alternators with 3 x Diesel-alternators. Propulsion
34.0 kts 39.1 mph Surface Speed
Structure The bow-to-stern, port-to-starboard physical qualities of FS Suffren (D602).
360 Personnel Complement
518.0 ft 157.89 meters O/A Length
50.9 ft 15.51 meters Beam
23.8 ft 7.25 meters Draught
6,615 tons Displacement
Armament Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of FS Suffren (D602).
1 x Mascura Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) twin launcher (48 missiles carried).
4 x MM.38 Exocet Anti-Ship (AS) missiles.
1 x Malafon Anti-Submarine ROCket (ASROC) torpedo launcher.
4 x L5 Anti-Submarine torpedo launchers (10 torpedoes).
2 x 100mm turreted deck guns
4 x 20mm automatic cannons
4 x 12.7mm Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs)
Ships-in-Class (2) Notable series variants as part of the FS Suffren (D602) family line as relating to the Suffren-class group.
FS Suffren (D602) led the two-strong group of Suffren-class defensive-minded frigates for the French Navy during the Cold War-era. Built by Lorient Arsenal, the warship was laid down on December 21st, 1962 and launched on May 15th, 1965. She was formally commissioned on October 1st, 1967 and led a service life in the French Navy until decommissioned in 2008. During her career, the vessel had homeports at Lorient, Brest and Toulon. She was named after Pierre Andre de Suffren (1729-1788), a French Navy admiral.
When commissioned, FS Suffren marked the first French Navy warship to feature an extensive missile-launching capability, categorizing the warships as guided-missile frigates. The class was designed as a direct counterpart to the Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers of the French Fleet.
As built, FS Suffren carried a crew of 23 officers and 337 petty officers and sailors. Dimensions included an overall length of 518 feet, a beam of 50.9 feet and a draught of 23.8 feet. The ship's profile included a stepped bridge superstructure, large radar dome, a midships-mounted main mast and a small, more contained secondary superstructure aft. There was no provision for launching or receiving helicopters on Suffren. Her propulsion scheme was led by 4 x steam boilers feeding 4 x turbines developing 72,500 horsepower to 2 x shafts. Maximum speed could reach 34 knots.
As a multi-role frigate, Suffren was outfitted with various weapon systems to counter fleet threats that originated from the air, the sea or under the sea. As such she carried a Masurca twin launcher and 48 surface-to-air missiles, 4 x launchers for the MM.38 Exocet anti-ship missiles and a single launcher for the Malafon anti-submarine rocket torpedo. Another anti-submarine measure were four launchers dedicated to the L5 system and ten torpedoes were carried for this. More conventional armament included 2 x 100mm turreted deck guns (installed at the forecastle), 4 x 20mm automatic cannons and 4 x 12.7mm heavy machine guns.
Onboard systems were the DRBI-23 radar fit (the large dome seated over the bridge superstructure), the ARBR-33 series jammer, the ARBR-17 series detector suite, the SLQ-25 "Nixie" torpedo decoy and a pair of Sagaie decoy launchers.
FS Suffren was sister-ship to FS Duquesne. Like Suffren, Duquesne was decommissioned in 2008.
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