{"id":11200,"date":"2026-03-19T16:40:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T03:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=11200"},"modified":"2026-03-19T16:40:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T03:40:02","slug":"france-launches-europes-biggest-warship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=11200","title":{"rendered":"France\u00a0launches\u00a0Europe’s\u00a0biggest\u00a0warship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced that France\u2019s next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will be called \u201cFrance Libre\u201d (Free France), as the country looks to reinforce its status as a major maritime power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once completed, the warship, which is set to replace the country\u2019s sole aircraft carrier \u2014 the Charles de Gaulle \u2014 and due to enter service in 2038, will be the largest warship ever built in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macron said the vessel was being named after the French Resistance movement that General de Gaulle led against the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted our future aircraft carrier to follow in the footsteps of General de Gaulle. His life, his destiny,\u201d Macron said at a shipyard in the western town of Indret, near Nantes, where the vessel\u2019s two nuclear reactors will be built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
French President Emmanuel Macron looks at the model of a ship named \u201cFrance Libre\u201d as he gives a speech during a visit to the construction site of Naval Group Nantes-Indret, where the next generation French aircraft carrier is under construction, in Indret, western France, on March 18, 2026. \u2014 AFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur new aircraft carrier will be named France Libre,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis name honours the memory of the men and women who stood up against barbarity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macron in December announced the start of construction of the new aircraft carrier, a project estimated to cost 10 billion euros ($11 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told French troops in the United Arab Emirates at the time that \u201cin an age of predators\u201d, France \u201cmust be strong in order to be feared\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reiterated that sentiment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo remain free, we must be feared. To be feared, we must be powerful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u2018France is wild\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the ceremony, Macron posted a 30-second video highlighting some of France\u2019s proudest moments and technological achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set to rousing music, the video featured footage of the Charles de Gaulle, submarines, troops, jets streaking in the air, high-speed trains, and France\u2019s astronaut Sophie Adenot, who has been in space since mid-February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrance is wild\u201d, read the white letters splashed in English across the clip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent weeks, the president has repeatedly underscored France\u2019s maritime ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said last week that Paris and its allies were putting together a mission to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran has effectively closed the Strait since the\u00a0United States and Israel began the war on the Islamic Republic\u00a0late last month, sending global oil prices up by more than 40 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the French leader has ruled out any action until hostilities there cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France\u2019s most recent aircraft carriers have all been named after French statesmen including Georges Clemenceau and Ferdinand Foch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Much bigger<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Construction of the future warship\u2019s hull is expected to begin in the western port city of Saint-Nazaire in 2031.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France is one of the two countries in the world that operate nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The United States has 11 such vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Charles de Gaulle was commissioned in 2001 and is the largest warship ever built for the French Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new warship will be much larger than the 42,000-tonne 261-metre (856-foot) long Charles de Gaulle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will weigh nearly 80,000 tonnes and be approximately 310 metres long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a crew of 2,000, it will be able to carry 30 fighter aircraft as well as combat drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the future, the aircraft carrier will be more than just an aircraft carrier,\u201d said the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Nicolas Vaujour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project represents a formidable undertaking, officials say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe cannot simply reproduce a tool that was designed halfway through the last century,\u201d said armed forces chief of staff Fabien Mandon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced that France\u2019s next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will be called \u201cFrance Libre\u201d (Free France), as the country looks to reinforce its status as a major maritime power. Once completed, the warship, which is set to replace the country\u2019s sole aircraft carrier \u2014 the Charles de Gaulle \u2014 and due to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[738,663,646],"coauthors":[364],"class_list":{"0":"post-11200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-2","8":"tag-europe","9":"tag-france","10":"tag-warships"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11200"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11204,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11200\/revisions\/11204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11200"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=11200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}