1982 LINFLEXIBLE. Added as an afterthought to the five-strong Le Redoutable
class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines developed independently in the 1960s, LInflexible is sufficiently different from her sisters to be considered as the leader of a new sub-class.
AN INDEPENDENT DETERRENT
The French leader, De Gaulle, dissatisfied with his fairly lowly position within NATO, pulled his country out of the organisation in the 1960s, and began to develop an independent Force de Dissuasion, an important component of which was to be a flotilla of nuclear-powered submarines capable of launching strategic ballistic missiles. The first of these, Le Redoutable, became operational in December 1971, and four more boats followed over the next nine years. They were joined in 1985 by a substantially modified version, Llnflexible. Constructed, like all the other French SSBNs, at the Cherbourg Naval Dockyard, she was laid down on 27 March 1980, launched on 23 June 1 982 and commissioned into the French Navy on 1 April 1985.
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT
Essentially of similar form and size to the earlier boats, LInflexible was thought to be capable of operating at slightly greater depth (down to 300m/1000ft) as a result of advances in metalurgy. Like her sisters, she was powered by a pressurised water-cooled reactor driving two steam turbines, but with a stand-by diesel engine of 2700bhp designed to bring her home in case of a failure of the nuclear plant. She was armed with 16 M-4 ballistic missiles each with six independently-targetable warheads, with a range of 4000km (2150nm), and with four bow-mounted 533mm (21in) torpedo tubes, capable of launching L-5 torpedoes or SM-39 Exocet missiles. She was equipped with DSUX 21 multi-purpose hull-mounted sonar and a DSUV 61 towed array and DRUA 33 radar.
TECHNICAL DATA
Type Nuclear powered strategic missile submarine
Machinery 1 shaft 1 reactor driving twin steam turbines producing a total of 1 5,000shp
Dimensions: Length, 128m (422ft); beam, 10.6m (35ft)
Displacement 8045t surfaced 8940t submerged
Draught: 10m (33ft)
Complement: 135
