Naval Group


Naval Group is a French industrial group specialising in naval defense design, development and construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris, France.
Heir to the French naval dockyards initiated in 1631 by Cardinal Richelieu and to the Direction des Constructions et Armes Navales, which became Direction des Constructions Navales in 1991 and then DCNS in 2007, the company was rebranded Naval Group in 2017. Its two main shareholders are the French State and Thales Group.
As of 2024, Naval Group employs 15,261 people across 17 countries.

History

Naval Group has a heritage of almost 400 years. Major shipyards were built in France in Brest, Nantes-Indret, Lorient and, subsequently, Cherbourg. Others were to follow. As early as 1926, what we know as the Naval Group today already had all the facilities now owned by the group in mainland France.

The birth of the naval dockyards

In 1624, Cardinal Richelieu, who was King Louis XIII's Prime Minister, devised a policy meant to expand France's maritime capabilities. This policy was put into practice from 1631, with the creation of the Ponant fleet in the Atlantic and the Levant fleet in the Mediterranean, the foundation of the Brest dockyards as well as the extension of the Toulon dockyards built under King Henri IV.
The policy was continued by Colbert, Louis XIV's Navy Minister, who developed several major dockyards. He extended the dockyards in Toulon, ordered the excavation of the docks in Brest and founded the Rochefort dockyards. His son, Seignelay, who succeeded him in 1683, followed in his footsteps.
The French Royal Navy's network of dockyards was further strengthened in the 18th century. In 1750, the Marquis de Montalembert converted a former paper mill into a forge producing cannons at Ruelle-sur-Touvre. In 1777, Antoine de Sartine, Louis XVI's Navy Minister, opened a cannon foundry near the naval shipyards in Indret. In the same year, work started on the development of the port in Cherbourg, which was completed in 1813. In 1778, the Lorient naval dockyards succeeded La Compagnie des Indes du port de L’Orient.
The naval dockyards in Rochefort were closed in 1926. In 1937, the establishment in Saint-Tropez was opened on the former site of the company Schneider, which specialised in torpedoes. By this time, most of the Naval Group's French sites already existed, and they have not changed since then.

Industrialisation and technical innovations

During the 19th century, the naval dockyards underwent a transformation as the fleet of sailing ships and were replaced by motorised vessels. The sites were industrialised and gradually specialised. In 1865, the naval dockyards in Brest became exclusively military, with the closure of the Penfeld port to commercial vessels. In 1898, after specialising in the building of vessels with propellers rather than sails, the shipyards in Cherbourg were tasked exclusively with the construction of submarines. Finally, in 1927, a decree definitively laid out the missions of the various naval dockyards: Brest and Lorient were tasked with the construction of large vessels, Cherbourg with building submarines, while Toulon, Bizerte and Saigon took charge of the maintenance of the fleet.
This rationalisation of the roles of the naval dockyards was accompanied by technical and military innovations and the production of vessels at a higher pace, against the backdrop of an arms race and colonisation. In 1858,, the first ocean-going battleship in the world sailed out of the dockyards in Toulon. The 1860s saw the arrival of the first torpedo boats and military submarines, with the launch of in 1863. The technical problems experienced by this first-ever motorised submarine meant that it remained a prototype rather than an operational war vessel. But it did open the way for the construction of in 1886 and Le Narval in 1899, which were the first operational torpedo submarines in history.
The production of heavy surface vessels was also stepped up in the 1910s. Several battleships were built before the start of the First World War, and the fleet was strengthened by the 35,000-ton in 1939.

Reorganisation of activities

In 1946, a review of the French naval dockyards completed the attributions of the various sites announced in the 1927 decree. Brest was tasked with the production and repair of large vessels, Lorient with the construction of medium-sized vessels, Cherbourg with submarines and Toulon with repairing and maintaining the fleet. Amongst the inland sites, Indret took over the vessel propulsion activities, Ruelle the construction of guns, large parts and electronics, Saint-Tropez the production of torpedoes and Guérigny the construction of naval chains and anchors. Five sites are located overseas: Mers el-Kébir, Bizerte, Dakar, Diego-Suarez and Papeete.
Until 1961, the French navy maintained and repaired its fleet itself, through the Directions des Constructions et Armes Navales in the naval dockyards. The engineers working in the DCANs were officers in the French navy's engineering division. At this time, the dockyards broke away from the Navy, creating the opportunity for the diversification of their activities in the 1970s.
A single DCAN covered all the mainland and overseas naval dockyards, reporting to the Direction Technique des Constructions Navales. In turn, the DTCN was answerable to the Délégation Ministérielle pour l’Armement, set up by Michel Debré. In 1977, the DMA became the Délégation Générale de l’Armement. The purpose of this reform was to centralise all the armed forces' design and construction capacities in a single inter-armed forces delegation operating under the government's authority.
In 1958, the official launch by General de Gaulle of the French military nuclear programme and deterrent policy prompted the restructuring of the defence industry and defence technology.
The Cœlacanthe project brought together the DTCN and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, and in 1971,, the first French missile-launching nuclear submarine, came into service.

Transformation into a company

The international economic climate and decolonisation in the 1970s lead the DCAN to venture into new markets. The loss of the overseas naval dockyards was compounded by the French Navy's reduced need for vessels and the increased difficulty in obtaining funding. This trend gathered more pace after the end of the Cold War, despite the diversification of the DCAN activities, which now included maintaining the electric power network and clearing mines from the coastline. Some sites also specialised in civilian projects: Brest built trucks, Guérigny made agricultural machinery and Toulon produced civilian vessels.
But, looking beyond the order books, it was the public status of the DCAN that was gradually called into question, and it came to be considered as an administrative obstacle to the development of the potential of France's naval dockyards.
This transformation occurred in several stages. In 1991, the DCAN was christened the DCN. In the same year, DCN International was created. The mission of this PLC was to promote the activities of the DCN on an international scale and to facilitate the export of its products.
In 1992, the DCN's activities for the state were attached to the Naval Programmes department, which was the contracting authority for vessels for the French navy. Since then, the DCN has only been responsible for industrial activities, while remaining part of the DGA. This change of status has allowed DCN International to provide the DCN with commercial and legal support in the development of its international trade since the end of the 1990s.
The development strategy pursued by DCN International resulted in the signing of several major contracts. In 1994, three submarines were delivered to Pakistan, and, in 1997, two s were built for Chile. A contract was also won in 2000 to supply six s to Singapore. In 2007, a contract was signed with Malaysia for two Scorpène submarines, through the subsidiary Armaris.
The DCN has also won contracts in the field of off-shore drilling for oil. In 1997, the Brest site modernised the Sedco 707 platform and now builds SFX type oil rigs.
In 1999, the DCN became an agency with national authority, reporting directly to the Ministry of Defence. Finally, in 2001, the French government decided to transform the DCN into a fully state-owned private limited company. The change of status came into effect in 2003. The DCN became just DCN, which no longer stood for Direction des Constructions Navales.

The development and continuation of the DCNS group

In 2007, DCN acquired the French naval activities branch of Thales, Armaris, a former subsidiary that was equally shared between DCN and Thales, and MOPA2, the company in charge of the project to build a second aircraft carrier. To stress its new identity, the resulting group was named DCNS. Thales acquired a 25% stake in the group's capital. In 2011, Thales increased its share of DCNS' capital to 35%.
Construction of the stealthy multi-function frigates started in 2007. In 2008, an aerial drone landed on the deck of a frigate at sea for the first time in history. In 2013, the group set up DCNS Research to promote its research activities. DCNS India, today Naval Group India was founded in 2008, thanks to two contracts signed in 2005 and 2008 for the delivery of six conventional Scorpène-class submarines. Similarly, in 2013, a submarine construction site was opened in Brazil. The group created the DCNS University in 2013 to deliver internal and external training.
On 28 June 2017, DCNS changed its name to Naval Group.

Activities

Naval Group's activities can be broken down into two main sectors: naval defence, the group's historical core business. In 2021, Naval Group stops its activities in the area of maritime renewable energy.
Naval Group designs, develops and manages the operational readiness of surface and underwater naval systems, and their associated systems and infrastructures. As a project manager and integrator of armed vessels, Naval Group intervenes all along the value chain, from strategic programme planning, to design, construction and the management of operational readiness.
The group works with the French navy and other navies, for conventional products, and with the authorisation of the French government. It also offers its military expertise to the French Air Force to design automated navigation and combat systems, and to renovate aircraft.