French frigate Duguay-Trouin

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Duguay-Trouin was one of three F67 type guided-missile frigates built for the French Marine Nationale during the Cold War. The F67s specialised in anti-submarine warfare, though they also had anti-air and anti-surface capabilities.

Design and description

The Tourville-class ships were designed as anti-submarine (ASW) escorts for convoys in the North Atlantic and are enlarged versions of the older , designed around a requirement to accommodate two Westland Lynx helicopters and Exocet anti-ship missiles.Template:Sfn They have an overall length of , a beam of Template:Cvt and a draught of Template:Cvt. The ships have a standard displacement of and at full load. The Tourvilles were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by four boilers. The turbines were rated at to give the ships a maximum speed of and a range of at . The frigate had a complement of 292 sailors including 17 officers.Template:Sfn

The primary anti-ship weapon of the Tourvilles consisted of six single box launchers for MM38 Exocet missiles, located to the rear of the bridge with three launchers on each broadside. The frigates were designed with three Modèle 1968 guns in single-gun turrets; one superfiring pair forward of the bridge and the third gun positioned atop the rear superstructure. They were also equipped with two Template:Cvt guns. The anti-submarine weapons of the Tourville-class ships included a Malafon anti-submarine missile launcher between the fore and aft superstructures for which they carried 13 missiles. They had two launchers for L5 torpedoes, one on each side of the ship. Each ship carried ten torpedoes. The Tourvilles were the first French ships of destroyer-size or larger designed to carry helicopters, a pair of Lynx ASW helicopters in a double hangar at the stern.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

They were equipped with a DRBV 51B search radar, a DRBC 32D fire-control radar and a DRBV 26 early-warning radar. For anti-submarine warfare, they were equipped with DUBV 23 hull-mounted sonar and DUBV 43 towed variable depth sonar. For electronic defence, the vessels mounted two Syllex chaff launchers. The SENIT 3 tactical data system coordinated sensor data.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Construction and career

Duguay-Trouin was laid down on 26 February 1971 at the Arsenal de Lorient, launched on 1 June 1973 and commissioned on 17 September 1975.Template:Sfn