Commissioned on 1 December 1971, the boat was the first French SNLE (Sous-marin Nucléaire Lanceur d'Engins, "Device-Launching Nuclear Submarine").

The boat was initially fitted with 16 M1 MSBS (Mer-Sol Balistique Stratégique) submarine-launched ballistic missiles, delivering 450 kilotons at 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi).

Le Redoutable had a 20-year duty history, with 51 patrols of 70 days each, totalling an estimated 90,000 hours of diving and 1.27 million kilometres (790,000 mi) of distance, the equivalent of travelling 32 times around the Earth.

This was a monumental task, the biggest portion of which was removing the nuclear reactor and replacing the midsection with an empty steel tube.

Special dinner events for organizations aboard this boat's interior spaces are offered by Cité de la Mer.