The Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier currently serves as the flagship of the French Navy. The vessel, which was first commissioned in 2001, is the tenth aircraft carrier to be built by France. This aircraft carrier is the first surface vessel built by France to be nuclear-powered (the French Navy’s ballistic missile submarines are also powered by nuclear reactors). The ship is the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier outside the United States Navy, and it was named after French president and general Charles de Gaulle.