The FS Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier off the coast of Toulon (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON / various sources / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
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The French Navy’s (Marine Nationale’s) flagship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the FS Charles de Gaulle, will return to its homeport of Toulon following two months of operations near the highly volatile Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which nearly one-quarter of the world’s oil and natural gas transits.
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that the French Navy’s mine countermeasure and escort vessels will remain in the region.
Although the FS Charles de Gaulle hadn’t taken part in any combat operations, its presence was aimed at offering an alternative security guarantee and at protecting international shipping lanes. Its posture was strictly defensive in nature, but it was also the largest non-U.S. warship in the Middle East.
Two U.S. Carriers Remain
The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) was dispatched to the United States Central Command area of responsibility in January. The United States Navy’s fifth Nimitz-class supercarrier has been deployed since November 21, 2025. CVN-72 could remain in the Middle East until at least mid-August, the end of the 60-day window for the United States and Iran to finalize a lasting peace deal.
Should an agreement not be reached, the United States and Israel could escalate operations, which would likely include the targeting of Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities. By that point, the USS Abraham Lincoln could have been deployed for approximately nine months, and it isn’t clear if the United States has another aircraft carrier to deploy to the region.
The 10th and final Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), arrived in CENTCOM’s AOR in late April, just ahead of the French carrier. The Naval Station Norfolk, Va.-based flattop departed its homeport on March 31, then crossed the Atlantic and sailed around Africa to reach the Middle East, likely to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another significant global chokepoint that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
The Only Non-U.S. Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier
The FS Charles de Gaulle remains the only non-U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to be powered by a nuclear reactor. Every other supercarrier, amphibious assault ship and other “flattop” now in service is conventionally powered.
However, as the French Navy’s flagship displaces just 40,000 tons, it is much smaller than the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz-class and is actually comparable in size to the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships.
Named for the general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II and later served as President of France, FS Charles de Gaulle is the largest warship ever built in France and the largest in Western Europe. It replaced the conventionally powered FS Clemenceau in 2001, only entering service after what was seen as a troubled fifteen-year construction period. It is likely to remain in service until at least 2038.
It is nuclear-powered, with two K15 reactors, and employs a Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery system to launch and recover aircraft.
The air wing of FS Charles de Gaulle typically consists of upwards of 40 aircraft, including around 30 Dassault Rafale M carrier-based “omnirole” fighters and two Grumman E-2C Hawkeye all-weather tactical airborne early warning and command-and-control aircraft.
Although most of her past deployments have been in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean, she has previously operated in waters near the Middle East.
In November 2024, the FS Charles de Gaulle also began the Mission Clemenceau 25, a five-month-long deployment to the Indo-Pacific. It was the first time that a French carrier strike group operated in the Pacific in more than 55 years. The mission was noteworthy as France remains the only European Union nation with a permanent military presence in the Indo-Pacific, as it maintains bases in New Caledonia and French Polynesia with around 2,300 troops stationed between the two locations.
The Mission Clemenceau 25 deployment of its flagship was meant to bolster regional security and enhance interoperability with its regional allies. During the mission to the Indo-Pacific, the flattop took part in the Multi Large Deck Event PACIFIC STELLER with the U.S. Navy’s USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s JS Kaga, a multipurpose helicopter carrier that was modified to operate with the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fixed-wing aircraft.
Next-Generation Carrier To Be Built
Earlier this year, President Macron unveiled the official name of the warship that will eventually replace the FS Charles de Gaulle. The future next-generation nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will be named the France Libre.
Major hull construction is set to begin around 2031 at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyards, and current plans call for the vessel to be a true supercarrier, displacing around 80,000 tons, making it the largest warship ever built in Europe.
The future warship is set to enter service in 2038, and when completed, it could carry a mix of manned combat aircraft and unmanned systems.
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