Nuclear submarine: they recount the first patrol of the Redoutable [Video] Reserved for subscribers

How was this patrol on board the first French nuclear submarine? Not many of them know the details, with the exception of the sailors concerned and the few authorities operating in the “secret of the gods”. We only know that the imposing black hull returned to the Crozon peninsula after 54 days at sea and a mission carried out in the cold waters of the northern hemisphere. Neither seen nor known, Le Redoutable thus wrote the first page of French nuclear deterrence by the sea.

Discretion to the end

No press release, no photo, no press conference to confirm the success of this highly anticipated first mission. Once back home, the 135 sailors scrupulously respected the instructions of discretion. While the journalists of the time rowed to write about the event.

"To be honest, we didn't know much about this first patrol," recalls Yves Cariou, then chief editor of Le Télégramme in Brest. “You had to guess the day of his departure. We knew that everything was ready at Ile-Longue but we missed it”. The journalist used to call the edge, the switchboard of Le Redoutable live. “There was always someone to answer. But one day, it rang in the void. We understood that they had left”.

At the end of January 1972, the 135 sailors of the Redoutable left Ile-Longue on tiptoe. In reality in two stages, due to a minor incident which made them return to the dock for a handful of hours. The false start does not escape the Telegram journalist who splits a few lines on the local page. The Redoutable leaves, just as discreetly, without its hull number S611 erased a few months earlier...

All kinds of visitors

Then second master, the 24-year-old detector, Christian Le Roux had been preparing for weeks. “Le Redoutable had completed a successful long-duration crossing and we were leaving with all the nuclear missiles,” he recalls. “We had a lot of work but no particular pressure, except the day before the start…” When an admiral came to tell them that “the world was watching them and not just the French! ".

This is confirmed by the former journalist of the Telegram. “There were Russian or other ships, often funny fishing boats that came to stop in the harbor of Brest”. "We also met some curious tourists, apparently attracted by the indisputable charms of the peninsula...". In the middle of the Cold War, Ile-Longue attracted all kinds of visitors

"There were often ships hanging around us," says the submariner. "We also took a little time before diving, to be sure that no one picks up our acoustic signature", specifies Christian Le Roux.

“Nuclear does not scare us”

Considering the astronomical sums committed to deterrence, the political pressure was immense. France was going to sit down at the table of the major powers, Americans, Russians and English having nuclear submarines in activity. “At the time, I was 24 years old and I was very far from these considerations. I'm concentrating on my work on board…” summarizes Christian Le Roux.

“We had the pressure of the result but we were never afraid to leave on board a nuclear ship. We knew we had no room for error but we were not afraid for our safety and our skin. Nuclear power did not scare us. The boat had proven itself during the trials and confidence was in good shape under the orders of the charismatic Captain Louzeau who took all these beautiful people without batting an eyelid.

Attached to the operation of a kind of computer as big as a Breton cupboard (“which must have approached the power of a microcomputer today”), he remained focused on his mission. “We used it to control the nuclear boiler room, the missile launches and a whole host of vital operations”. “It was like a wardrobe that you operated with keys. A very modern equipment for the time! ".

"It was great luxury next to diesels"

On board, it was luxury, next to diesel submarines. Everyone had their berth and the meals remained very neat. "Some came back with a few extra pounds." "There were also tracksuits at the cooperative for those who no longer fit into their uniform at the end of the patrol...". The intense work was interspersed with slices of belote, sports results and predictions, tarot games, chess, and cinema on Sundays. "It was before the arrival of walkmans and laptops in the bunks...", sighs the submariner.

“We often extended our shifts by an hour or two, there was real competition in succeeding in this first mission! ".

Another memory of this historic patrol and not the least! His 24th birthday on board, two days after departure. The first celebrated aboard a French nuclear submarine. The baker had baked a cake without a candle.

Encouraged by the doctor on board, the young chief mate even found the energy to work on his baccalaureate, in the evening, between two missile-launching tubes. The officer who believed in him will not regret it... 19 years later, Christian Le Roux will return as second in command aboard the Redoutable and will take the helm of the SSBN Foudroyant between 1995 and 1997 before leading the squadron between 2000 and 2002 and to leave the navy with two admiral stars on the sleeve!

bearded and long hair

When this first patrol returned, the authorities were waiting for them on the quays. Bearded, with long hair and a few extra pounds, they left the keys to the other crew who had come to welcome them for the second (around 510 patrols carried out since 1972!).

Only informed of their return the day before, the families found sailors who were not very talkative. For his part, the journalist from the Telegram only learned a few days later of the return of the Redoutable. “However, we used to let our ears hang out on the Saint-Louis market or to survey traders in the sector about orders indicating sea returns… But nothing for this first”. The Strategic Oceanic Force had already plunged into the world of silence.

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