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 NAVY destroyer
Georges Leygues ( C
70) class
Naval
Crotale is a navalized version of a French Air Force surfaceto-air
missile system; the missile is made by Matra and the electronics by
Thomson-CSF. Eight missiles are mounted on the launcher and there are
18 reloads in the magazine.
The original missile is a beam-rider and has a range of 8,750
yards (8000m) at altitudes of 150ft(45.7m)to 12,00Oft (3,676m). A new
version, Crotale EDIR, is capable of dealing with targets flying at
speeds of up to Mach 2 at heights of 13ft (4m) and an infra-red
tracker is being added to the launcher/director. The C 70 (M) ships
will have the Standard SM-1(MR) missile and Mk 131auncher instead of
Crotale; 40 missiles will be carried. The entire
installations are being taken from the four Surcouf class destroyers
equipped with Tartar in the early 1960s
Orlgin:
France
Type:
Destroyer (DD)
Built: 1974-1994
Class: (ASW)
5 in service; 2 building (AA) 3 building: 1ordered
Displacement:
(ASW) 3,830 tons standard: 4,170 tons full load (AA) 4,300 tons full
load
Dimensions:
Length 455.9ft (139m) oa; beam 45.9ft (14m); draught 18.7ft (5.7m)
Propulsion: (ASW) 2-shaft CODOG (2 Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines; 2
SEMT-Pielstick 16PA6 CV280 diesels), 53,000/10,400bhp (AA) 2-shaft
diesel (4 SEMTPielstick 18PA6 BTC 'diesels rapides'), 42,000hp Performance: (ASW) Speed 30 knots;
range 9,500nm on diesels (AA)
Range 9,200nm at 17 knots, 5,000nm at 24 knots
Weapons:
(ASW) SSM: 4 MM38 Exocet (8 from third of class) SAM: 1 Crotale
launcher (26 missiles) ; Guns: 1 Mode11968-II 100mm (first four only);
1 Creusot-Loire 100mm Compact (fifth ship); 2 20mm Torpedo tubes: 2
fixed launchers for 15 torpedoes (10 carried) (AA) SSM: 8 MM40 Exocet
SAM: 1 Mk 13 launcher for Standard SM1 MR (40 missiles); 2 Sadral PDMS
Guns: One Creusot-Loire 100mm Compact; 220mm Torpedo tubes: 2 fixed
launchers for 15 torpedoes (10 carried)
Aircraft: (ASW) 2 Lynx
helicopters with Mk 46 torpedoes;
(AA) 1 SA 365 Dauphin
Sensors:
(ASW) Radar: DRBV-51C surface/ air surveillance; DRBV-26 air search;
DRBC-32D fire control; SPG-51C missile control; 2 Decca 1226 navigation
Sonar: DUBV-23D hull-mounted;
DUBV-43B variable-depth (first four only); DSBV-61 towed array (fifth
ship onwards) (AA) Radar: DRBJ-11b surface/air surveillance; DRBV-26
air surveillance; DRBC-33 fire control; 2 SPG 551C missile control;
Decca 1229 navigation Sonar: DUBV 25A hull-mounted;
DSBV 61 towed array
Complement:
ASW - 216; AA 200
These well designed and very capable ships, the latest in along
and successful line of big French destroyers, represent a notable
achievement on the part of the designers, who have achieved a goal that
has eluded many others by producing two different types of ship on the
same hull.
Developed from the Tourville (F 67) class, the original C 70s
are the ASW Georges Leygues class, which the French Navy classifies as
'corvettes' and of which five are currently in service, with another
two on order; an eighth was cancelled as an economy measure. The first
four are the C 70(1) class, \V hose details are given above, but the
fifth, Primauguet (D 644), and subsequent ships - the C 70(2)
class are being fitted with a DSBV 61 towed array in place of the
DUBV 43B variable depth sonar, the new Crotale Navale EDlR SAM system,
anew 100mm compact gun and the Vampir infra-red surveillance system;
they will also have the bridge one deck level higher to overcome the
problems the first four have experienced in bad weather. Of these
modifications only the Crotale Navale is likely to be retrofitted into
the first four.
 The AA
version is designed to provide the anti-aircraft and antimissile
defences for a carrier task group or a mercantile convoy. Sometimes
designated the Cassard class, these ships have a very different
armament and propulsion system mounted on an identical hull. Main AA
armament, the Mk 13 Standard missile launcher aft, will be taken from
the T 47 class destroyers when the latter are removed from service in
the late 1980s, but it is intended to fit vertical launch systems for
the SAMs in due course. The air defence armament is supplemented by the
Sadral short-range selfdefence missile system and a single forecastle
mounted Creusot Loire 100mm/55 dual-purpose gun, plus eight MM.40
Exocet SSMs.
Sonar is fitted and there are two hull-mounted quintuple ASW torpedo
launchers.
Propulsion for the C 70 (AA) class is provided by four
SEMT Pielstick 18PA6 low compression diesels. These are estimated to be
almost as light and easy to maintain as a gas
turbine system, but do not require such large air intakes
and exhaust trunking. A lot of aluminium alloy is already being used in
the superstructure to save top weight, a step which the French
designers may now be regretting in view of recent naval experiences
with aluminium alloys in warships.
Future: These ships will provide the French Navy with a strong force of
seven ASW and four AA units serving well into the next century . The
ASW ships will reach the currently programmed end of their operational
lives in 2004, 2006 (two), 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2014, and the AA ships
in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
MM.40 is the latest version of the Exocet anti ship missile.
Capable of 
over-the-horizon targeting using an
external fire control data source, it has a range of 40 miles (65km),
almost double that of the earlier MM38
Weapons
A Creusot-Loire 100mm dual-purpose gun mount,ModeI1968-11 (1x1 )
B Catapults for L5 multi-purpose torpedoes (2x1)
C Type A 20mm F2 gun (2x1)
D MM.38 Exocet SSM launchers (2x4) (D 642 onward mount MM.40 version)
E Naval Crotale launcher, System TSE 5500 (1x8)
F Westland Lynx Mk2 ASW helicopter
Electronics
1 DUBV-23D hullmounted low frequency panoramic sonar
2 Decca 1226 navigation radar
3 CSEE Panda optronic director (back-up system for 100mm gun)
4 DRBC-32D fire control radar (DRBG32E in D 644)
5 Satcom antenna (2x1 )
6 DRBV-26 air search radar
7 ARB-33 jammer
 8 Enigme DF antenna
arrays
9 ARBR-17 ESM antenna
10 DRBV-51C surface/ air surveillance radar (DRBV-15 in D 644-646)
11 Syllex chaff launcher
12 DUBV-43B Variable depth sonar (DSBV-61 towed array in D 644-646)
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