French aircraft carrierClemenceau

Clemenceau(French pronunciation:[klemɑ̃so]) was theFrench Navy's sixthaircraft carrierand thelead shipofher class.The carrier served from 1961 to 1997 and was dismantled and recycled in 2009.The carrier was the second French warship to be named afterGeorges Clemenceau,the first being aRichelieu-class battleshiplaid down in 1939 but never finished.

Clemenceau

Clemenceauunder way in 1981
History
France
Name	Clemenceau
Namesake	Georges Clemenceau
Builder	Brestshipyard
Laid down	November 1955
Launched	21 December 1957
Commissioned	22 November 1961
Decommissioned	1 October 1997
Homeport	Brest
Identification	R98
Fate	Scrapped 2009–2010
General characteristics
Class and type	Clemenceau-classaircraft carrier
Displacement	22,000 tons (standard) 32,780 tons (loaded)
Length	265 m (869 ft 5 in)
Beam	51.2 m (168 ft 0 in)
Draught	8.6 m (28 ft 3 in)
Installed power	6Indretboilers 126,000 shp (94,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 steam turbines
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Capacity	582 air group personnel
Complement	1,338 (aircraft carrier) 984 (helicopter carrier)
Sensors and processing systems	1DRBV-23Bair sentry radar 1DRBV-50low altitude or surface sentry radar (later replaced by a DRBV-15) 1NRBA-50approach radar 2DRBI-10tri-dimensional air sentry radar MultipleDRBN-34navigation radars MultipleDRBC-31fire direction radars (later replaced byDRBC-32C radars)
Armament	8100 mm turrets(of which 4 replaced in the 1990s by 2SACP Crotale EDIRsystems with 52 missiles) 512.7 mm machine guns
Aircraft carried	Up to 40 aircraft: 15Super Étendard 4Étendard IVP 8F-8E(FN) Crusader 8Alizé 2Dauphin Pedro 2Super Frelon

Clemenceauand hersister shipFochserved as the mainstays of the French fleet. During the carrier's career,Clemenceausailed more than 1,000,000nautical miles(1,900,000 km; 1,200,000 mi) during 3,125 days at sea. She was equipped to handle nuclear munitions to be delivered by her air complement and was later modified to fire nuclear-capable missiles. She took part in numerous exercises and cruises, seeing action during theLebanese Civil WarandGulf Warand in air operations over the former Yugoslavia.

Description

Clemenceauarrives in Brest at the end of her final cruise in 1997

The development ofClemenceaurepresented France's effort to produce its own class of multi-role aircraft carriers to replace the American and British ships provided at the end ofWorld War II.The ship had a small but effective design, using some of the elements of United States carriers, but on a smaller scale. The vessels were given relatively heavy gun armament for their size, and some stability problems were encountered which required bulging the hull.

TheClemenceau-class aircraft carriers are of conventionalCATOBARdesign. The landing area was 165.5 m (543 ft 0 in) long by 29.5 m (96 ft 9 in) wide; it was angled at 8 degrees off of the ship's axis. Theflight deckis 265 m (869 ft 5 in) long. The forward aircraft elevator was to starboard, and the rear elevator was positioned on the deck edge to save hangar space. The forward of two 52 m (171 ft) catapults was at the bow to port, the aft catapult was on the angled landing deck. Thehangardeck dimensions were 152 m (498 ft 8 in) by 22–24 m (72 ft 2 in – 78 ft 9 in) with 7 m (23 ft 0 in) overhead.

Clemenceauwent through a major refit from September 1977 to November 1978. She was refitted again with new defensive systems from 1September 1985 to 31August 1987, this included the replacement of four of the 100 mm guns with a pair ofCrotalesurface-to-air missile launchers. She was modified in 1978 to enable her aircraft to deliver severalAN 52bombs. In 1993 she was modified again to take nuclear capableAir-Sol Moyenne Portéemissiles.

History

Career

Throughout the course of the aircraft carrier's lengthy career, it participated in the majority of French naval operations. From 12January to 5February 1962,Clemenceauparticipated in aNATOexercise known asBigGamewith theUnited States Sixth Fleetin the western Mediterranean as ananti-submarineaircraft carrier. This was followed from 9March to 2April with another NATO exercise calledOTANDawn Breeze VII, in the Gibraltar zone.

In January 1968,Clemenceauparticipated in the search for the lostsubmarineMinervein the Mediterranean when contact was lost 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi) from port atToulon.Minerveremained lost until French Defence Minister Florence Parly announced on 22 July 2019 that the wreck had been discovered.

During the same year, the carrier was deployed to the south Pacific for Frenchnuclear bomb testingin Polynesia includingCanopus,the first French hydrogen bomb. With the deployment of the fleet, codenamed Alfa Force (French:Force Alfa), the naval force present around two atolls represented more than 40% of the tonnage of the entire French navy.Clemenceauwas the flagship of a fleet composed of forty ships.

During 1974–1977Clemenceauwas deployed off the African coast in the Indian Ocean inOperation Saphir IandOperation Saphir IIin support of newly independentDjibouti.During theLebanese Civil WarClemenceauwas deployed in the EastMediterraneanin 1983–84. The carrier rotated withFoch,providing constant on-station air support toFrenchpeacekeepers in theMultinational Force in LebanonFSMB and theUnited Nations Interim Force in LebanonUNIFIL. The carrier's main support engagement was in Operation Olifant.In 1987–1988 she participated in Operation Prométhée in theGulf of Omanduring the war betweenIraqandIran.The Promethée battle force (Task Force 623), includedClemenceau,the mine counter-measures support shipLoire,andDurance-class tankersMeuse,Var,andMarne.In 1990, escorted by the cruiserColbertand the tankerVar,she transported 40 helicopters (SA-341F/ -342 Gazelles,SA-330 Pumas), threeBr-1050 Alizésand trucks to Iraq duringOperations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.The carrier was mainly engaged inOperation Salamandrein theRed Seaand theArabian Seaduring the conflict between Iraq andKuwait.During 1993 to 1996Clemenceaucompleted several tours including combat operations and air patrol over the formerYugoslaviain Operation Balbuzard (French:Opération Balbuzard)in order to support theUN's troops,thenSalamandrein theAdriatic Seaduring theYugoslav Wars.

Clemenceauoperated around the world with a career total of more than one million nautical miles traveled, the equivalent of circumnavigating the globe 48 times. The carrier has passed 3,125 days at sea, with 80,000 hours of function, and conducted more than 70,000 catapult-launches.

In 1983, thebâtimentwas the first unit of theFrench Navyto embark female personnel. Three women were assigned on board: onemaître principal,onesecrétaire militaireand onepremier maître.

Loyal to the tradition of the French Navy,Clemenceauwelcomed on board numerous fine art painters, some for a week and others for up to two months.

Disposal

Clemenceauin Brest in 2008 prior to being taken for disposal

On 31 December 2005,Clemenceauleft Toulon to be dismantled inAlang,Indiadespite protests about improper disposal and a lack of facilities for the management of toxic waste.

On 6January 2006, theSupreme Court of Indiatemporarily denied access to Alang.After having been boarded by activists, held by Egyptian authorities, and then transiting theSuez Canalon 15January, a court ruling by theConseil d'ÉtatorderedClemenceauto return to French waters.Able UK,based at theGraythorpyard nearHartlepoolreceived a disassembly contract to use accepted practices in scrapping the ship.The dismantling started on 18November 2009 and the break-up was completed by the end of2010.

General arrangement

1: 100mm cannon; 2: Weapons control radar type DRBC-31; 3: Aircraft lift; 4: 15 tonne crane; 5: Aircraft approach radar type NRBA-50; 6: Altitude radar type DRBI-10; 7: Funnel; 8: Proximity radar type DRBV-20; 9:TACANAntenna; 10: Combined low altitude and surface-to-air radar type DRBV-50; 11: Proximity radar type DRBV-23; 12: Altitude radar type DRBI-10; 13: Weapons control radar type DRBC-31

In popular culture

• A 1985television commercialfor theCitroën VisaGTI car was shot aboardClemenceau.A race pits the car against aDassault Étendard IV;both continue off the end of the carrier, with the small automobile briefly keeping pace with the aircraft before plummeting into the ocean. Seconds later, though, the car triumphantly emerges, perched on the foredeck of a surfacingAgosta-classsubmarine.

Gallery

• 
  A Super Étendard and a Crusader aboardClemenceauin 1988.
• 
  Clemencau'sship's wheel
• 
  The control board of one of the propulsion machines
• 
  Super Étendardin catapult (16 July 1997)
• 
  Super Étendard on the catapult deck
• 
  Gun and turret
• 
  Turret
• 
• 
  Departure for a voyage

Bibliography

• Warship International Staff (1986). "Question 27/84".Warship International.XXIII(3): 318.ISSN0043-0374.

Further reading

• Boniface, Patrick (September 2015), "Clemenceau carriers",Ships Monthly:46–49
• Moulin, Jean (2020).Tous les porte-aéronefs en France: de 1912 à nos jours[All the Aircraft Carriers of France: From 1912 to Today]. Collection Navires et Histoire des Marines du Mond (in French). Vol. 35. Le Vigen, France: Lela Presse.ISBN978-2-37468-035-4.
• Moulin, Jean & Jordan, John (2023). "ClemenceauandFoch:France's First Modern Aircraft Carriers ". In Jordan, John (ed.).Warship 2023.Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp.26–47.ISBN978-1-4728-5713-2.

External links

• (in French)Aircraft Carrier Clemenceau on Alabordache
• Deadly Vessel:Feature on the Vessel in theIndiannewsmagazineFrontline
• Victory: Toxic warship Clemenceau turned back to France!:Greenpeace's view of the controversy