The French Navy, informally La Royale, is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in the world recognised as being a blue-water navy. The French Navy is capable of operating globally and conducting expeditionary missions, maintaining a significant overseas presence. The French Navy is one of eight naval forces currently operating fixed-wing aircraft carriers, with its flagship Charles de Gaulle being the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier outside the United States Navy, and one of two non-American vessels to use catapults to launch aircraft.
Armament of a frigate in Brest, 1773
Napoleon inspecting the fleet of Cherbourg in May 1811 (by Rougeron and Vignerot)
Battleship Richelieu, 1943
A Cassard-class frigate
A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includes anything conducted by surface ships, amphibious ships, submarines, and seaborne aviation, as well as ancillary support, communications, training, and other fields.
The Spanish Armada fighting the English navy at the Battle of Gravelines in 1588
British and Danish navies in the line of battle at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
A flotilla from the Indian Navy's Western Fleet escorts the aircraft carriers INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya through the Arabian Sea in 2014
Fourth Style wall painting with naumachia (triremes), a detail from a panel from the portico of the Temple of Isis in Pompeii, Naples National Archaeological Museum