‘Free France’: Macron reveals name of Europe’s largest warship

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced that France’s next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will be called “France Libre” (Free France), as the country looks to reinforce its status as a major maritime power.

Once completed, the warship, which is set to replace the country’s sole aircraft carrier — the Charles de Gaulle — and due to enter service in 2038, will be the largest warship ever built in Europe.

Macron said the vessel was being named after the French Resistance movement that General de Gaulle led against the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.

“I wanted our future aircraft carrier to follow in the footsteps of General de Gaulle. His life, his destiny,” Macron said at a shipyard in the western town of Indret, near Nantes, where the vessel’s two nuclear reactors will be built.

“Our new aircraft carrier will be named France Libre,” he added.

“This name honours the memory of the men and women who stood up against barbarity.”

Macron in December announced the start of construction of the new aircraft carrier, a project estimated to cost 10 billion euros ($11 billion).

He told French troops in the United Arab Emirates at the time that “in an age of predators”, France “must be strong in order to be feared”.

He reiterated that sentiment on Wednesday.

“To remain free, we must be feared. To be feared, we must be powerful,” he said.

‘France is wild’

Ahead of the ceremony, Macron posted a 30-second video highlighting some of France’s proudest moments and technological achievements.

Set to rousing music, the video featured footage of the Charles de Gaulle, submarines, troops, jets streaking in the air, high-speed trains, and France’s astronaut Sophie Adenot, who has been in space since mid-February.

“France is wild”, read the white letters splashed in English across the clip.

In recent weeks, the president has repeatedly underscored France’s maritime ambitions.

He said last week that Paris and its allies were putting together a mission to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

Iran has effectively closed the Strait since the United States and Israel began the war on the Islamic Republic late last month, sending global oil prices up by more than 40 per cent.

But the French leader has ruled out any action until hostilities there cool.

France’s most recent aircraft carriers have all been named after French statesmen including Georges Clemenceau and Ferdinand Foch.

Much bigger

Construction of the future warship’s hull is expected to begin in the western port city of Saint-Nazaire in 2031.

France is one of the two countries in the world that operate nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The United States has 11 such vessels.

The Charles de Gaulle was commissioned in 2001 and is the largest warship ever built for the French Navy.

The new warship will be much larger than the 42,000-tonne 261-metre (856-foot) long Charles de Gaulle.

It will weigh nearly 80,000 tonnes and be approximately 310 metres long.

With a crew of 2,000, it will be able to carry 30 fighter aircraft as well as combat drones.

“In the future, the aircraft carrier will be more than just an aircraft carrier,” said the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Nicolas Vaujour.

The project represents a formidable undertaking, officials say.

“We cannot simply reproduce a tool that was designed halfway through the last century,” said armed forces chief of staff Fabien Mandon.