Video: French Navy Carries Out Rare Shock Trial on New Frigate
The French Navy has carried out a rare "shock trial" on one of its new frigates to evaluate its resilience to near-miss explosions. It is the first time that the service has performed one of these tests in years.
Video released Tuesday shows that the service set off a substantial underwater explosion just off the starboard beam of the frigate FLF Courbet. Unlike the U.S. Navy, which conducts shock trials while the ship holds position, the Marine Nationale had Courbet under way at a slow bell when the explosion went off.
#Expérimentation | La résistance de la FLF Courbet face à l’explosion d’une mine navale !????
— Marine nationale (@MarineNationale) February 25, 2025
Cette expérimentation appelée "essai de choc" a été réalisée pour évaluer la résistance du bâtiment et des équipements à une explosion importante, dans un contexte de hausse des menaces. pic.twitter.com/bG4kWfwOUI
The Marine Nationale said that the purpose of the trial was to prepare the vessel and crew for operations "in a context of increasing threats." The idea of the shock trial dates back to WWII, when the U.S. Navy found that near-miss explosions from naval mines could damage or disable mission-critical systems, taking the target vessel out of action - even if it managed to evade a direct hit.
The U.S. Navy uses a series of up to four "shots" for each trial, typically performed with the first-in-class vessel shortly after delivery. The maximum shock intensity occurs in the third shot, and is equal to two-thirds of the maximum shock design value of the ship. The test process is expensive, typically costing tens of millions for preparation, evaluation and post-shock repairs.
In the past, full-ship shock trials have revealed design flaws with components that previously passed rigorous testing standards. As an example, early testing of the Flight I Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS John Paul Jones led to significant shock-hardening revisions, which were tested seven years later aboard the Flight IIA USS Winston Churchill. Though Churchill did worse overall on the test, many systems that had been revised performed much better than the first time - and the second test led to significant upgrades and QA checks on all Flight IIA hulls.