On May 18, 2001 (April 26, 2001 in the lunar calendar), the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was commissioned. The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier belonging to the French Navy. In addition to being the only aircraft carrier currently in operation in France, it is also the flagship of the French Navy. Officially commissioned on May 18, 2001, the Charles de Gaulle is the tenth aircraft carrier owned by France. Its name comes from the famous French military general and politician Charles de Gaulle. The USS Charles de Gaulle was not just France's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. In fact, it was the first and only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in history that was not part of the U.S. Navy. In order to replace the traditional-powered aircraft carrier FochR99 and its sister ship Clemenceau R98 built in the 1960s, France had begun planning for the construction of the next generation of aircraft carriers as early as the mid-1970s, but the keel of the Charles de Gaulle was actually installed in April 1989 at the Directiondes constructionsnavales (DCN) naval shipyard in Brest. However, at the beginning of planning, the ship was originally named Richelieu by then-French President Mitterrand in accordance with the tradition of naming the French Navy's flagship to inherit the battleship Richelieu during World War II. However, when it was actually built in 1989, it was named Charles de Gaullist by then Prime Minister Jacques Chirac. The September 11 incident broke out in 2001. In order to assist the US military in Operation Enduring Freedom to sweep the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the Charles de Gaulle and its accompanying escort fleet crossed the Suez Canal and entered the Indian Ocean for the first time. On December 9, it arrived in the waters south of Karachi, a large city in Pakistan. In the US-led attack operations, the carrier-based aircraft on the USS Charles de Gaulle carried out at least 140 reconnaissance and bombing missions, the first time the ship participated in combat missions since it was in service. The Charles de Gaulle entered the port of Singapore for rest and supplies in March 2002, and returned to its home port of Toulon July 1. In 2007, the Charles de Gaulle began its first large-scale overhaul, which included replacing fuel for two nuclear reactors and updating a large number of equipment such as propellers. At the end of 2008, the newly renovated aircraft carrier returned to sea to carry out missions. In April 2009, the Charles de Gaulle was suspended for maintenance again due to a failure in its drive shaft. After several months of maintenance, the aircraft carrier went to sea for training at the end of November. In mid-October 2010, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle decided to return to Toulon due to a failure in the insulation in an electrical cabinet of the drive system. On October 30, the repaired Charles de Gaulle returned to sea for training.[1] On March 20, 2011, the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Charles de Gaulle departed from the naval base in Toulon, France, to participate in the military strike against Libya [2]. On August 10, 2011, the USS Charles de Gaulle returned to the military port of Toulon, France, for several weeks of maintenance. Repairs on the USS Charles de Gaulle will take several months.