1/700 70018 LArsenal Le Redoutable Nuclear Submarine - French Navy
Multimedia Model Kit, Box Condition: Exc++
This full-hull model features high-definition resin cast hull & details, many PE parts and fully illustrated instructions. Never started. The parts are still in the internal factory sealed bags and includes instructions. Le Redoutable (S611) was the lead boat of her class of ballistic missile submarines in the French Navy.Commissioned on 1 December 1971, the boat was the first French SNLE (Sous-marin Nucléaire Lanceur d'Engins or Device-Launching Nuclear Submarine). The boat was initially fitted with 16 M1 MSBS (Mer-Sol Balistique Strategique) submarine-launched ballistic missiles, delivering 450 kilotons at 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi). In 1974, the boat was refitted with the M2 missile, and later with the M20, each delivering a one-megatonne warhead at a range over 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi). Le Redoutable ("formidable" or "fearsome" in French) was the only ship of the class not to be refitted with the M4 missile.Le Redoutable had a 20-year duty history, with 51 patrols of 70 days each, totaling an estimated 90,000 hours of diving and traveling 1.27 million km (790,000 mi) of distance, the equivalent of 32 times around the Earth.The boat was decommissioned in 1991. In 2000, the boat was removed from the water and placed in a purpose-built 136 meters (446 ft) dry dock and over two years was made into an exhibit. This was a monumental task, the biggest portion of which was removing the nuclear reactor and replacing the midsection with an empty steel tube. In 2002, the boat opened as a museum ship at the Cite de la Mer naval museum in Cherbourg-Octeville, France, being now the largest submarine open to the public and the only nearly-complete ballistic missile submarine hull open to the public — although several museums display small portions, such as sails and/or parts of rudders from such submarines. Special dinner events for organizations aboard this boat's interior spaces are offered by Cite de la Mer.
$32.00