French Navy carrier FS Charles De Gaulle (R91) left its home port of Toulon last week to lead the French Carrier Strike Group’s (CSG) CLEMENCEAU 25 mission, a deployment which will take the CSG to the Red Sea and Indo-Pacific.
The French CSG and its embarked air group also includes three frigate escorts, a fleet oiler and a nuclear-powered attack submarine. It will also “integrate several foreign vessels during its mission,” to demonstrate its interoperability with allied navies, according to a release by France’s Ministry for Armed Forces.
The release stated that in the Mediterranean, the CSG will be augmented by allied ships from Greece, Italy, Morocco and the United States. It added that the CSG deployment underscores France’s commitment to freedom of action and maritime and air movement. “CLEMENCEAU 25 will develop interoperability and cooperation with partners and allies from the Mediterranean to the Pacific Ocean. This mission will also contribute to France’s capacity for autonomous situation assessment, which is essential for preventing crises and, if necessary, intervening,” stated the release.
During its deployment, the French CSG will contribute to NATO’s defensive and deterrent posture in the Mediterranean and Europe, according to the release, and will take part in the annual VARUNA bilateral exercise between the French and Indian navies, which will take place west of the Indian Ocean. The CSG will lead the La Perouse exercise in the eastern Indian Ocean, in cooperation with the navies of the countries bordering the Indonesian archipelago. Finally, the CSG escort will be sailing in the Pacific Ocean, notably for exercise Pacific Steller, to increase interoperability with U.S. 7th Fleet. “This exceptional mission, due to its duration and its route, demonstrates France’s ability to deploy an agile, responsive, adaptable and autonomous military tool far and wide,” concluded the release.
The release made no mention of operations in the Red Sea, though previous information stated the French CSG will carry out missions in support of operations there. The French Navy and French Ministry for Armed Forces, for purposes of operational security, have not released a timeline of the deployment and port visits, though the French CSG is expected to make stops in the Philippines and Japan. The last time Charles De Gaulle deployed to the Asia Pacific was in 2019 and only as far as Singapore, with that deployment lasting a total of five months, including two months in the Mediterranean and Middle East carrying out operations against Islamic State militants.
Likewise, there has been no disclosure of the identities of the ships comprising the CSG beyond Charles De Gaulle and fleet oiler FS Jacques Chevallier (A725) and that Italian Navy frigate ITS Virginio Fasan (F591) will be integrated into the CSG. It also is known that French Navy frigate FS Forbin (D620) left Toulon with Charles De Gaulle on Thursday. U.S. destroyers based operating in the Mediterranean that could integrate with the French CSG. Those include the three of those forward deployed to Destroyer Squadron 60 in Naval Station Rota, Spain; USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) and USS Paul Ignatius (DDG-117), USS Bulkeley (DDG-84); currently on a scheduled deployment to U.S. 6th Fleet and USS Stout (DDG-55), part of the Harry S. Truman CSG. Stout sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar on Nov. 25 as part of the CSG, together with carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), Italian Navy frigate ITS Carabiniere (F593) and Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez (F-104), but did not follow Harry S. Truman and Carabiniere when they docked in Marseille, France, on Saturday for a port visit.
A U.S. Navy release on Saturday stated that the port visit comes just after the two-month point on deployment, following more than a month of operations with allies and partners in the North and Norwegian Seas. The Harry S. Truman escorts, along with Stout include cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG-64), which was last said to be around Germany, and destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109), now in the Central Command area of operations. Carabiniere is expected to spend a significant time as part of the CSG as the Italian frigate trained as part of the CSG during its Composite Unit Training Exercise (COMPTUEX) in August.
