The 35,500-ton Charles de Gaulle, planned as a flagship of the French navy, has been dogged by misfortune since it left port for sea trials on January 25^th. It quickly returned because of bad weather. Two days later, when the ship sailed again, electric pumps in the reactors’ cooling system began to malfunction and, during its return to Brest to solve that problem, a fire broke out in a control panel.
The navy then admitted that the flight deck might be four metres too short for its needs. In addition, some of the 300 kilometres of pipes in the vessel are scheduled to be replaced because of corrosion suffered in 10 years since the keel was laid.