On 25 February 2026, the SNA De Grasse was launched for the first time at sea. The start of sea trials of the ship is a crucial step in the Barracuda program. The achievement of this milestone follows completion work and a series of dockside tests, carried out since the submarine was transferred from Naval Group’s construction hall in Cherbourg to the launching facility in May 2025.
After testing the equipment installed on board, it was launched in the Cachin basin. These tests made it possible to verify the proper functioning of the submarine’s various systems and equipment, its watertightness, as well as its propulsion. On this occasion, the nuclear boiler room was also started up on 12 December 2025, in a procedure also known as the “first divergence”.
Sea trials will take the De Grasse to the Atlantic. All these tests will be carried out under the supervision of engineers and technicians from the French Defence Procurement Agency, the CEA’s Military Applications Directorate, Naval Group and TechnicAtome, and carried out by submariners from the French Navy. Their objective is to verify, in a progressive manner, all the technical and operational capabilities of the submarine. It will last until its scheduled delivery in 2026.
The six submarines ordered by the DGA as part of the Barracuda program will renew by 2030 the component of the French Navy’s nuclear attack submarines (SSNs), consisting of Rubis-type SSNs commissioned from the 1980s. The first three Barracuda SSNs, the Suffren, the Duguay-Trouin and the Tourville, were admitted to active service in June 2022, April 2024 and July 2025 respectively.
Like their predecessors, the Barracuda nuclear attack submarines are equipped with nuclear propulsion that gives them remarkable range and discretion. They are faster, more durable and more versatile than the previous generation SSNs, with their new capabilities for implementing special forces and striking land targets located several hundred kilometers away using naval cruise missiles.