Naval Group rolls out French Navy’s fourth Barracuda SSN

Naval Group rolled out the Barracuda (Suffren-class) nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) De Grasse at its shipyard in Cherbourg on 27 May 2025.

The SSN left its construction hall in order to be transferred to a floating platform-type shiplift that will put the submarine into the water. Completion work and initial tests will then be carried out at the quayside before De Grasse embarks on sea trial in 2026.

De Grasse is the fourth of six SSNs being built under the Barracuda programme that are gradually replacing the French Navy’s Rubis-class SSNs. The first of class, Suffren, was commissioned on 6 November 2020, after which Duguay-Trouin was commissioned on 28 July 2023 and Tourville on 16 November 2024.

Two Rubis-class boats, Améthyste and Perle, currently remain in service.

Led by the French defence procurement agency (Direction générale de l’armement – DGA) in partnership with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the Barracuda programme is intended to deliver all six Suffren-class SSNs by 2030.

The Barracuda SSNs, which are 99 m long, displace 5,200 tonnes (dived) and operated by a crew of 63, provide the French Navy with a deep strike capability thanks to their MBDA Naval Cruise Missiles (NCM). They are also armed with F21 heavyweight torpedoes produced by Naval Group and the Exocet SM39 anti-ship missile from MBDA. The SSNs also allow the discreet deployment of special forces underwater through a diver’s hatch or by carrying a dry deck shelter that can also be used to launch underwater vehicles.