The Suffren submarine arrived at Toulon naval base

The Suffren, the first of six Suffren-class SNA submarines, arrived on Tuesday, July 28, at the Toulon naval base. This arrival at its home port marks an important milestone in the sea trials of the first submarine in the Barracuda program, the Ministry of the Armed Forces stated.

Oversee by the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) and conducted by the French Navy, the sea trials verify the proper functioning of the submarine’s various systems and equipment prior to its certification and subsequent delivery to the French armed forces.

TechnicAtome, responsible for the design and construction of the Suffren’s nuclear propulsion systems, participated in the sea trials. Following the submarine’s first dive off the coast of Cherbourg in April, government and industry teams involved in the program conducted various sea trials to ensure the submarine’s safe navigation and to test its technical and operational performance. These trials enabled specialists from the DGA’s centers of expertise to analyze the collected data. The analyses show that the seaworthiness of the first submarine in the series is consistent with its modeling. Further trials in the Mediterranean will be conducted by a crew from the French Navy. They will be supervised by engineers and technicians from the DGA and the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), as well as representatives from Naval Group and TechnicAtome and their partners and subcontractors.