Direction des Constructions Navales
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|
| société anonyme | |
| Industry | Defence |
| Founded | 1631 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
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Area served
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world |
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Key people
|
Hervé Guillou (CEO) |
| Products | Patrol Vessels, Corvettes, Frigates, Destroyers, LHD, Aircraft Carriers, Submarines (SSK, SSN, SSBN) |
| Revenue | € 3.04 billion (2015) |
| € 58 million (2015) | |
| Owner |
APE: 64% Thales: 35% DCNS Actionnariat: 1% |
|
Number of employees
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12,953 (worldwide) (2015) |
| Website | www.dcnsgroup.com |
DCNS is a French industrial group specialised in naval defence and energy. The Group employs more than 13,000 people in 10 countries. DCNS, a private law company in which the French state holds a 64% stake, Thales 35% and the personnel a 1% stake, is the heir to the French naval dockyards and the “Direction des Constructions et Armes Navales” (DCAN), which became the DCN (“Direction des Constructions Navales”) in 1991 and DCNS since 2007.
DCNS has a heritage of 380 years. Major shipyards were built in France in Ruelle (1751), Nantes-Indret (1771), Lorient (1778) and, subsequently, in Cherbourg (1813). Others were to follow. As early as 1926, what we know as DCNS today already had all the facilities now owned by the Group in mainland France.
In 1624, Cardinal de Richelieu, who was Louis XIII’s Prime Minister at the time, devised a naval policy that provided for the development of the dockyards in order to give France sufficient maritime power to rival that of England. This policy was implemented from 1631, with the creation of the Ponant fleet in the Atlantic and the Levant fleet in the Mediterranean, the Brest dockyards and the extension of the Toulon dockyards, created under 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”.
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Wikipedia