''Le Terrible'' is a
strategic nuclear submarine
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
of the
French Navy
The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
. The boat was
launched on 21 March 2008
On 27 January 2010, ''Le Terrible'' launched an
M51 SLBM
The M51 SLBM is a French submarine-launched ballistic missile, built by ArianeGroup, and deployed with the French Navy. Designed to replace the M45 SLBM (in French terminology the MSBS – ''Mer-Sol-Balistique-Stratégique'' "Sea-ground-Strategic ...
from underwater in Audierne Bay. The missile reached its target off
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
; the flight took about 20 minutes.
The submarine was put into service on 20 September 2010 armed with 16
M51 missiles.
''Terrible'' is fitted with a new SYCOBS combat system (SYstem de COmbat Barracuda-SSBN) which will also be installed on the new Barracuda class SSNs.
In July 2017 French president
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
visited the submarine in the Atlantic and took part in a simulated missile launch.
See also
*
List of submarines of France
The submarines of France include Nuclear submarine, nuclear attack submarines and nuclear ballistic missile submarines of various List of submarine classes, classes, operated by the French Navy as part of the Submarine forces (France), French Subma ...
Sources and references
Triomphant-class submarines
Ships built in France
2008 ships
Submarines of France
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