Anchored off Gosport - June 2005

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 nuclear-powered carrier built outside of the United States Navy. She is named after the French statesman and general, Charles de Gaulle.

Her complement of Dassault Rafale M and E-2C Hawkeye, as well as state-of-the-art electronics and Aster missiles, give her offensive power unseen before in France. She is the second largest, after Admiral Kuznetsov, and arguably the most powerful European aircraft carrier, at least until the introduction of the Franco-British future carriers.[1] It is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses the same catapult system as that installed on the Nimitz class carriers, the 75 m C13-3 steam catapult.