French aircraft carrier Clemenceau
{{Short description|French aircraft carrier, lead ship of her class}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
| {{Infobox ship begin |infobox caption=Clemenceau}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image =French carrier Clemenceau (R98) underway 1981.jpg |Ship caption = Clemenceau under way in 1981 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header = |Ship name = Clemenceau |Ship country = France |Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|France|naval}} |Ship namesake = Georges Clemenceau |Ship ordered = |Ship awarded = |Ship builder = Brest shipyard |Ship original cost = |Ship yard number = |Ship way number = |Ship laid down = November 1955 |Ship launched = 21 December 1957 |Ship sponsor = |Ship christened = |Ship completed = |Ship commissioned = 22 November 1961 |Ship recommissioned = |Ship decommissioned = 1 October 1997 |Ship maiden voyage = |Ship in service = |Ship out of service = |Ship renamed = |Ship reclassified = |Ship refit = |Ship struck = |Ship reinstated = |Ship homeport = Brest |Ship identification =R98 |Ship motto = |Ship honours = |Ship fate = Scrapped 2009–2010 |Ship notes = |Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header = |Header caption = |Ship class = {{sclass|Clemenceau|aircraft carrier}} |Ship displacement =*22,000 tons (standard)
|Ship length = {{convert|265|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship beam = {{convert|51.2|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship height = |Ship draught = {{convert|8.6|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship power =*6 Indret boilers
|Ship propulsion= 4 steam turbines |Ship speed = {{convert|32|kn}} |Ship range = |Ship endurance = |Ship capacity = 582 air group personnel |Ship complement =* 1,338 (aircraft carrier)
|Ship sensors =* 1 DRBV-23B air sentry radar
|Ship EW = |Ship armament =* 8 100 mm turrets (of which 4 replaced in the 1990s by 2 SACP Crotale EDIR systems with 52 missiles) |Ship armour = |Ship aircraft =* Up to 40 aircraft: |Ship aircraft facilities = |Ship notes = }} |
Clemenceau ({{IPA|fr|klemɑ̃so}}) was the French Navy's sixth aircraft carrier and the lead ship of her class. The carrier served from 1961 to 1997 and was dismantled and recycled in 2009.{{cite news |date=8 February 2009 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7877204.stm |title=New ghost ship heads to Teesside |publisher=BBC News |access-date=8 February 2009}}{{cite news |date=20 January 2011 |url=http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/ghost-ships-work-completed-1-3005651 |title=Ghost ships work completed |publisher=Hartlepool Mail |access-date=28 April 2012 |archive-date=29 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129022439/http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/ghost-ships-work-completed-1-3005651 |url-status=dead }} The carrier was the second French warship to be named after Georges Clemenceau, the first being a {{sclass|Richelieu|battleship|1}} laid down in 1939 but never finished.
Clemenceau and her sister ship {{ship|French aircraft carrier|Foch||2}} served as the mainstays of the French fleet. During the carrier's career, Clemenceau sailed more than {{convert|1000000|nmi|sigfig=2|lk=in}} 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 the Lebanese Civil War and Gulf War and in air operations over the former Yugoslavia.
Description
{{stack|File:FS Clemenceau (R98) side view.jpg}}
The development of Clemenceau represented France's effort to produce its own class of multi-role aircraft carriers to replace the American and British ships provided at the end of World 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.
The Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers are of conventional CATOBAR design. The landing area was {{convert|165.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} long by {{convert|29.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} wide; it was angled at 8 degrees off of the ship's axis. The flight deck is {{convert|265|m|ftin|abbr=on}} 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 {{convert|52|m|abbr=on}} catapults was at the bow to port, the aft catapult was on the angled landing deck. The hangar deck dimensions were {{convert|152|m|ftin|abbr=on}} by {{convert|22|-|24|m|ftin|abbr=on}} with {{convert|7|m|ftin|abbr=on}} overhead.{{cite web |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/clemenceau.htm |title=Clemenceau |publisher=GlobalSecurity.org |date=10 June 2013 |access-date=24 October 2014}}
Clemenceau went through a major refit from September 1977 to November 1978. She was refitted again with new defensive systems from 1{{nbsp}}September 1985 to 31{{nbsp}}August 1987, this included the replacement of four of the 100 mm guns with a pair of Crotale surface-to-air missile launchers. She was modified in 1978 to enable her aircraft to deliver several AN 52 bombs. In 1993 she was modified again to take nuclear capable Air-Sol Moyenne Portée missiles.Marc Théléri, Initiation à la force de frappe française (1945–2010), Stock, 1997, p.100
History
=Career=
Throughout the course of the aircraft carrier's lengthy career, it participated in the majority of French naval operations. From 12{{nbsp}}January to 5{{nbsp}}February 1962, Clemenceau participated in a NATO exercise known as BigGame with the United States Sixth Fleet in the western Mediterranean as an anti-submarine aircraft carrier. This was followed from 9{{nbsp}}March to 2{{nbsp}}April with another NATO exercise called OTAN Dawn Breeze VII, in the Gibraltar zone.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}
In January 1968, Clemenceau participated in the search for the lost submarine {{ship|French submarine|Minerve|S647|2}} in the Mediterranean when contact was lost {{convert|25|nmi}} from port at Toulon. Minerve remained lost until French Defence Minister Florence Parly announced on 22 July 2019 that the wreck had been discovered.{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49068823 |title=French Minerve submarine is found after disappearing in 1968 |work=BBC News |date=2019 |access-date=29 July 2019|language=en}}
During the same year, the carrier was deployed to the south Pacific for French nuclear bomb testing in Polynesia including Canopus, the first French hydrogen bomb. With the deployment of the fleet, codenamed Alfa Force ({{langx|fr|Force Alfa}}), the naval force present around two atolls represented more than 40% of the tonnage of the entire French navy. Clemenceau was the flagship of a fleet composed of forty ships.{{cite web |url=http://www.netmarine.net/g/dossiers/mururoa/index.htm |title=La Marine à Mururoa |first=Jean-Michel |last=Roche |work=netmarine.net |access-date=24 October 2014|language=fr}}
During 1974–1977 Clemenceau was deployed off the African coast in the Indian Ocean in Operation Saphir I and Operation Saphir II in support of newly independent Djibouti. During the Lebanese Civil War Clemenceau was deployed in the East Mediterranean in 1983–84. The carrier rotated with {{ship|French aircraft carrier|Foch||2}}, providing constant on-station air support to French peacekeepers in the Multinational Force in Lebanon FSMB and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon UNIFIL. The carrier's main support engagement was in Operation Olifant. In 1987–1988 she participated in Operation Prométhée in the Gulf of Oman during the war between Iraq and Iran. The Promethée battle force (Task Force 623), included Clemenceau, the mine counter-measures support ship Loire, and {{sclass|Durance|tanker|1}}s Meuse, Var, and Marne. In 1990, escorted by the cruiser {{ship|French cruiser|Colbert|C611|2}} and the tanker Var, she transported 40 helicopters (SA-341F/ -342 Gazelles, SA-330 Pumas), three Br-1050 Alizés and trucks to Iraq during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.{{cite web |url=http://www.ffaa.net/ships/aircraft-carrier/clemenceau/clemenceau_fr.htm |title=Porte-avions Clemenceau |work=ffaa.net |date=19 February 2011 |access-date=24 October 2014|language=fr}} The carrier was mainly engaged in Operation Salamandre in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea during the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait. During 1993 to 1996 Clemenceau completed several tours including combat operations and air patrol over the former Yugoslavia in Operation Balbuzard ({{Langx|fr|Opération Balbuzard}}){{Cite web |url=http://frenchnavy.free.fr/ships/aircraft-carrier/clemenceau/history.htm |title=History of the CV Clemenceau |access-date=24 May 2008 |archive-date=26 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926183326/http://frenchnavy.free.fr/ships/aircraft-carrier/clemenceau/history.htm |url-status=dead }} in order to support the UN's troops, then Salamandre in the Adriatic Sea during the Yugoslav Wars.
Clemenceau operated 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, the bâtiment was the first unit of the French Navy to embark female personnel. Three women were assigned on board: one maître principal, one secrétaire militaire and one premier maître.
Loyal to the tradition of the French Navy, Clemenceau welcomed on board numerous fine art painters, some for a week and others for up to two months.
=Disposal=
File:Clemenceau-brest-2008.jpg
On 31 December 2005, Clemenceau left Toulon to be dismantled in Alang, India despite protests about improper disposal and a lack of facilities for the management of toxic waste.{{cn|date=January 2024}}
On 6{{nbsp}}January 2006, the Supreme Court of India temporarily denied access to Alang.{{cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4588922.stm|title= Stay out, India tells toxic ship|access-date= 2009-03-05|author= Zubair Ahmed|date= 2006-01-06|publisher= BBC News}} After having been boarded by activists, held by Egyptian authorities, and then transiting the Suez Canal on 15{{nbsp}}January, a court ruling by the Conseil d'État ordered Clemenceau to return to French waters.{{cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4716472.stm|title= Chirac orders 'toxic' ship home|access-date= 2009-03-05|date= 2006-01-16|publisher= BBC News}} Able UK, based at the Graythorp yard near Hartlepool received a disassembly contract to use accepted practices in scrapping the ship.{{cite news |title=Praise for 'toxic' ship scrapping |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/8439308.stm |date=4 January 2010 |publisher=BBC News Online |quote=The dismantling of the former Clemenceau is a positive and pioneering operation in Europe}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7877204.stm |title=Ghost ship arrives in north-east |access-date=2009-03-05 |date=2009-02-08 |publisher=BBC News}} The dismantling started on 18{{nbsp}}November 2009 and the break-up was completed by the end of{{nbsp}}2010.
General arrangement
File:FS Clem plan1.jpg Antenna; 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]]
{{clear|left}}
In popular culture
- A 1985 [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsez_pub-de-1988-citroen-visa-gti_ads television commercial] for the Citroën Visa GTI car was shot aboard Clemenceau. A race pits the car against a Dassault 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 surfacing Agosta-class submarine.
Gallery
File:Super Etendard F-8 Clemenceau.jpg|A Super Étendard and a Crusader aboard Clemenceau in 1988.
File:Rudder of aircraft carrier Clemenceau.jpg|Clemencau{{'}}s ship's wheel
File:FS Clemenceau (R98), engine control panel.jpg|The control board of one of the propulsion machines
File:Super-Etendard 1.jpg|Super Étendard in catapult (16 July 1997)
File:Super-Etendard 2.jpg|Super Étendard on the catapult deck
File:FS Clemenceau (R98) 100mm main guns and turret.jpg|Gun and turret
File:FS Clemenceau (R98) 100mm turret.jpg|Turret
File:Clemenceau 20060517.jpg
File:Clemenceau ressemblant pour la derniere fois a un porte avion.JPG|Departure for a voyage
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite journal|last1=Warship International Staff |year=1986|title= Question 27/84|journal=Warship International|volume=XXIII|issue=3|page=318|issn=0043-0374}}
Further reading
- {{Citation | last = Boniface | first = Patrick | title = Clemenceau carriers | journal = Ships Monthly | pages = 46–49 | date = September 2015 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Moulin |first1=Jean |title=Tous les porte-aéronefs en France: de 1912 à nos jours |date=2020 |publisher=Lela Presse |location=Le Vigen, France |isbn=978-2-37468-035-4|language=fr|trans-title=All the Aircraft Carriers of France: From 1912 to Today|series=Collection Navires et Histoire des Marines du Mond|volume=35}}
- {{cite book |last1=Moulin|first1=Jean|last2=Jordan |first2=John |title=Warship 2023 |date=2023 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |pages=26–47 |isbn=978-1-4728-5713-2 |chapter=Clemenceau and Foch: France's First Modern Aircraft Carriers|editor-first=John|editor-last=Jordan|name-list-style=amp}}
External links
{{Commons category|Clemenceau (R98)}}
- {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20051119175814/http://www.alabordache.com/marine/espacemarine/desarme/porte-avions/clemenceau/ Aircraft Carrier Clemenceau on Alabordache]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060214061904/http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2302/fl230200.htm Deadly Vessel] : Feature on the Vessel in the Indian newsmagazine Frontline
- [http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/clemenceaushipbreakingvictory150206 Victory: Toxic warship Clemenceau turned back to France!]: Greenpeace's view of the controversy
{{Clemenceau class aircraft carrier}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clemenceau (R98)}}
Category:Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers
Category:Ships built in France