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France: Submarines' pennants

Last modified: 2009-10-02 by ivan sache
Keywords: submarine | temeraire (submarine) |
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Submarine Le Téméraire

The submarine Le Téméraire (The Reckless), launched on 21 January 1998 in Cherbourg, is the second nuclear-powered, missile-thrower submarine of the Triomphant class. Based at l'Île-Longue, near Brest and manned by 111 men, the submarine is equipped with 16 balistic missiles each loaded with six nuclear heads.

The pennant of the Téméraire is rectangular with the FNFL ensign pattern (divided blue-white-red by a white lozenge) and four fouled yellow anchors pointing to the corners of the flag.
On the flag obverse, the white lozenge is charged with "LE TEMERAIRE" in yellow letters, progressilvey bigger when reaching the center of the word (to recall the silhouette of a submarine?).
On the flag reverse, the white lozenge is charged with the emblem of the ship.

The emblem of the Téméraire is blue disk with a black submarine over a yellow anchor. Over the base of the anchor, a white dolphin defeats a bigger, white shark. The doplhin is represented attacking the shark with its rostrum, as a symbol of conscient courage. The difference in size between the shark, in the backgournd, and the dolphin, in the foreground, symbolizes nuclear deterrence. The dolphin is also the symbol of the Force Océanique Tactique (FOST), the main component of the French strategic nuclear forces. Finally, the dolphin recall the Narval submarines, built after the Second World War, which were represented on the submariners' badge. The shark represents the permanent threat coming from the deep ocean.

Source: Net-Marine website

Ivan Sache, 4 June 2009