The F67 type is a class of large high-sea (Blue water

Blue Water

Blue Water was the Rainbow Code name for a British battlefield nuclear missile of the early 1960s. Despite its good performance and receiving wide praise, it is best known for having been cancelled for financial reasons.- Origins :...

) Destroyers of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

 specialised in anti-submarine warfare. They have anti-air and anti-surface capabilities.

Between 1994 and 1996, the Tourville and the De Grasse were refitted with the modern SLASM anti-submarine system, an active Very Low Frequencies sonar

Design

The ships are an enlarged version of the F65 class frigate Aconit

French destroyer Aconit (F65)

The Aconit was a unique frigate built for the French Navy during the Cold War. She was named after the French corvette Aconit which fought in the Free French Navy during World War II. the design was designated F65 by the French Navy-Design:...

. They have two shaft steam turbine machinery and a double hangar for two Lynx helicopters. They were the first ships fitted with the marine version of the Crotale surface to air missile system. A Malafon

Malafon

Malafon was a French ship-launched anti-submarine missile system. Developed in the 1950s and 60s, the weapon was intended to take advantage of the greater detection ranges possible with towed sonar arrays. The missile entered service in 1966 and was manufactured by Groupe LatécoèreThe weapon is...

  anti submarine missile system was fitted when the ships were built but this was removed during refits in the late 1980s

Ships

The three ships of the class, D612 De Grasse, D611 Duguay-Trouin and the D610 Tourville, are named after famous French sailors.

The three ships of the class were all built by Arsenal de Lorient

Pennant number	Ship	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Status
D610	Tourville	13 May 1972	21 June 1974	16 June 2011	Laid Up
D611	Duguay-Trouin	1 June 1973	17 September 1975	13 July 1999	Disequiped, in use as a breakwater
D612	De Grasse	30 November 1974	1 October 1977		In Service