- French aircraft carrier Clemenceau (R98)
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Career (France) 
Namesake: Georges Clemenceau Builder: Brest shipyard Laid down: November 1955 Launched: 21 December 1957 Commissioned: 22 November 1961 Decommissioned: 1 October 1997 Homeport: Brest Nickname: Clem Fate: Awaiting disposal General characteristics Class and type: Clemenceau class aircraft carrier Displacement: 22,000 tons (standard)
32,780 tons (loaded)Length: 265 m Beam: 51,2 m Draught: 8.6 m Propulsion: 6 x Indret boilers
4 x steam turbines
126,000 shpSpeed: 32 knots (59 km/h) Capacity: 582 air group personnel Complement: 1,338 (aircraft carrier), 984 (helicopter carrier) Sensors and
processing systems:1 x DRBV-23B air sentry radar
1 x DRBV-50 low altitude or surface sentry radar (later replaced by a DRBV-15)
1 x NRBA-50 approach radar
2 x DRBI-10 tri-dimensional air sentry radar
Multiple DRBN-34 navigation radars
Multiple DRBC-31 fire direction radars (later replaced by DRBC-32C radars)Armament: 8 × 100 mm turrets (originally) ; in the 1990s, 4 were replaced by 2 SACP Crotale EDIR systems, with 52 missiles; 5 × 12.7 mm machine guns Aircraft carried: 40 total aircraft:
15 Super Étendard
4 Étendard IVP
8 F-8E(FN) Crusader
8 Alizé
2 Dauphin Pedro
2 Super FrelonClemenceau (R 98), often affectionately called "le Clem'", was the lead ship of her class, and the 6th aircraft carrier of the French Navy, serving from 1961 to 1997. She was the second French warship to be named after Georges Clemenceau, the first one being a battleship of the Richelieu class, laid down in 1939 but never finished. The Clemenceau, under the name Q-790, is to be dismantled and recycled by Able UK at Graythorpe, Hartlepool, England.[1]
Contents
History
Development of Clemenceau represented France's successful effort to produce its own class of multi-role carriers to replace American and British ships which were provided at the end of World War II. The ship was a small but effective design, using elements of United States carrier design, but to 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.
Clemenceau went through a major refit from September 1977 to November 1978. She was again refitted with new defensive systems from 1 September 1985 to 31 August 1987, including replacement of four of the 100 mm guns with a pair of Crotale surface-to-air missile launchers.
Clemenceau and her sister ship Foch served as the mainstays of the French fleet. During her career Clemenceau sailed more than 1,000,000 nautical miles (2,000,000 km) in 3,125 days at sea, all over the world.
Missions
1974 Independence of Djibouti, in the Indian Ocean.
1982–1984 Lebanon civil war. She rotated with the Foch, providing constant on-station air support to French peacekeepers.[2]
1987–1988 Operation Prométhée. The ship receives orders to position in Oman sea, to protect French merchant traffic in Persian gulf from Iranian speedboats during war between Iran and Iraq. She arrives on area on 15 August. Iranian P-3 Orion intercepted by F-8 Crusader on CAP. The Promethee battle force, Task Force 623, réalise l'opération Prométhée, included the support ship Loire, Clémenceau, le PR Meuse, les BCR Var et Marne.
1990, the ship escorted by the Colbert and the Var, transported 40 helicopters (SA-341F/ -342 Gazelles, SA-330 Pumas), three Br-1050 Alizés and trucks to Iraq during 'Desert storm & Desert shield'.[3]
1993–1996 several tours including combat operations and air patrol over former Yugoslavia [4] during operation 'Balbuzard' to support the UN's troops.
Reports of a mutiny
During the May 1968 social turmoil the French political/satirical magazine Le Canard enchaîné issue of 19 June 1968 reported a mutiny aboard the Clemenceau. The carrier was bound for a nuclear test in the Pacific at the end of May, but was brought back to Toulon. Three families were informed that their sons had been 'lost at sea'. The magazine of the UNEF (National Union of Students of France) apparently carried a fuller report in its 14 June issue but the print run was seized.[5]
Disposal controversy
In December 2004, before Clemenceau set sail for India, Greenpeace started protesting against France's plans to outsource the scrapping of the 27,000-ton warship laden with toxins such as asbestos, PCBs, lead, mercury and other toxic chemicals in India in violation of the Basel Convention.
On 31 December 2005 Clemenceau left the French port of Toulon to be dismantled in Alang, Gujarat, India. On 6 January 2006 the Supreme Court of India temporarily denied access to Alang.[6] Six days later the ship reached Egypt, where she was boarded by two Greenpeace activists.[7] Egyptian authorities denied access to the Suez Canal.
On 15 January the ship was finally allowed to pass. This decision was heavily criticised by Greenpeace and other environmental groups.[8] That same day French President Jacques Chirac ordered Clemenceau to return to French waters and remain on standby following a ruling by France's highest administrative court, the Conseil d'État.[9]
After she had been lying off the French naval port at Brest for over two years, Able UK issued a press release on 1 July 2008 confirming that they had been given the contract to dismantle the Clémenceau at its TERRC (Teesside Environmental Reclamation & Recycling Centre) facility at Graythorpe, Hartlepool. Special dispensation was given to Able by the UK HSE to handle the asbestos content of the carrier which would normally have been prohibited by its Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.[10]
The vessel was moved to Able UK after this was authorised by court proceedings of 29 September 2008, and Clemenceau arrived at Graythorp on Sunday, 8 February 2009.[11]
The dismantling of the ship started on 18 November 2009 and is expected to be complete by summer 2010.[12] Although highly controversial, the quality of the dismantling operation has been complimented by independent environmental groups.[13]
On the 5 February 2010, there was a fire on board.[14]
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 : Chimney ; 8 : Proximity radar type DRBV-20 ; 9 : TACAN 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
Notable popular culture
- A 1985 television commercial for the Citroën Visa GTI car was shot on 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
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The ship's wheel.
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Engine control panel.
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View of Clemenceau where the command tower and the main guns are clearly visible.
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A Super Étendard ready for launch off the flight deck (16 July 1997).
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Super Étendards on the flight deck.
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Bunks on board.
Notes and references
- ^ "New ghost ship heads to Teesside". BBC News. 8 February 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7877204.stm. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
- ^ Clemenceau
- ^ CV Clemenceau & Foch
- ^ History of the CV Clemenceau
- ^ Cliff/Birchall: France – the struggle goes on (Revolutionary situation?)
- ^ Zubair Ahmed (2006-01-06). "Stay out, India tells toxic ship". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4588922.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- ^ "Egypt asks toxic ship for proof". BBC News. 2006-01-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4605374.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- ^ "Egypt grants 'toxic' ship passage". BBC News. 2006-01-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4615662.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- ^ "Chirac orders 'toxic' ship home". BBC News. 2006-01-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4716472.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- ^ Charles Bremmer (2008-07-02). "Hartlepool to break up France's toxic flagship Clemenceau". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4249526.ece. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- ^ "Ghost ship arrives in north-east". BBC News. 2009-02-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7877204.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- ^ "Q790/Le Clemenceau update". Able UK Ltd. http://www.ableuk.com/ableshiprecycling/q790.shtml. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
- ^ "Praise for 'toxic' ship scrapping". BBC News Online. 4 January 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/8439308.stm. "The dismantling of the former Clemenceau is a positive and pioneering operation in Europe"
- ^ "Hartlepool 'ghost ship' fire tackled by crews". BBC. 5 February 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/8500164.stm. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
See also
- List of aircraft carriers
- List of ship launches in 1957
- List of ship commissionings in 1961
- List of ship decommissionings in 1997
External links
- (French) Aircraft Carrier Clemenceau on Alabordache
- Deadly Vessel : Feature on the Vessel in the Indian newsmagazine Frontline
- Victory: Toxic warship Clemenceau turned back to France! : Greenpeace View of the controversy
- Clemenceau docks in Hartlepool : Summary of final years
French NavyClemenceau · Foch
Brazilian NavySão Paulo (ex-Foch)
Categories:- Clemenceau class aircraft carriers
- Ships built in France
- 1957 ships
- Cold War aircraft carriers of France
- Gulf War ships of France
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