French frigate Suffren

Suffren was a frigate of the French Navy, designed to protect a fleet against air threats, surface ships, submarines, and, to a lesser extent, provide firepower against land objectives. She is the sister-ship of FRENCH FRIGATE Duquesne, and was decommissioned in 2001. She was the seventh French vessel named after the 18th century admiral Pierre André de Suffren; her artillery turrets are named after ships commanded by the marquis of Suffren: turret n°1 is named Héros ("hero") after the ship of the line FRENCH SHIP Héros, and turret n°2 is named Fantasque, after the ship of the line FRENCH SHIP Fantasque.

The French navy doesn't use the term "destroyer" for its ships; thus some large ships, such as Suffren, referred to as "frigates", are registered as destroyers. With her sister-ship, she was the first missile-launching destroyer of the French Navy. She was designed to protect the French aircraft carriers FRENCH AIRCRAFT CARRIER Foch and FRENCH AIRCRAFT CARRIER Clemenceau against air and submarine threats. In 2001, Suffren was put in the reserve, her machinery becoming too expensive to maintain.

The dome-like structure surrounding the DRBI23 radar is reminiscent of the Dutch guided missile frigates and has on occasion led to confusion when identifying between the two ship classes.