Chevalier Paul underway in the Mediterranean Sea on 15 July 2017
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History | |
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France | |
Name | Chevalier Paul |
Namesake | Chevalier Paul |
Ordered | 27 October 2000 |
Builder | DCNS and Thales Group. Lorient shipyard |
Laid down | 13 January 2005 |
Launched | 12 July 2006 |
Commissioned | June 2009 |
Homeport | Toulon |
Identification |
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Status | Active |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Horizon-class frigate |
Displacement | 7,050 tonnes[1] |
Length | 152.87 m (501 ft 7 in) |
Beam | 20.3 m (66 ft 7 in) |
Draught | 5.4 m (17 ft 9 in) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) (18 on diesel) |
Range | 7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)s, 3500 nmi at 25 knots |
Boats & landing craft carried | EDO, 20-seat EFRC, Hurricane 733 |
Capacity | 32 passengers or admiral staff |
Complement |
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Sensors and processing systems |
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Electronic warfare & decoys |
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Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 1 × NH90 helicopter |
Chevalier Paul is a Horizon-class frigate of the French Marine Nationale commissioned in June 2009, the third vessel of the French Navy named after the 17th century admiral Chevalier Paul. The main mission of this type of ship is the escort and protection of a carrier strike group formed around an aircraft carrier, usually Charles de Gaulle or one of the aircraft carriers of the US Navy,[4] or an amphibious operation carried out by amphibious helicopter carriers. The ship's specialty is air traffic control in a war zone, but it can be employed in a wide variety of missions, such as intelligence-gathering, special forces operations, or in protecting less well-armed vessels. Horizon-class frigates such as Chevalier Paul are the most powerful surface combatants that France has ever built. In service since the end of 2011, it bears the pennant number D621. Its namesake is Jean-Paul de Saumeur, better known as Chevalier Paul, a French naval officer born in Marseille in 1598.
Nantes is the godmother city of Chevalier Paul since 17 March 2012.[5]