FS Clemenceau (R98)

History

At the beginning of the Cold War (1947-1991), the French Navy took over two Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers - the lead ship FS Clemenceau (R98) and her sister FS Foch (R99) (the latter detailed version described elsewhere on the page). Both are traditionally powered types of French origin, with around 40 aircraft, and both were modernized in the late Cold War to retain them as combat vehicles.

While Foch was sold to Brazil to become NAe Sau Paulo (details elsewhere on this site) to serve in the Brazilian Navy, Clemenceau was stripped and eventually scrapped in the late 2000s.

FS Clemenceau (R98) Named after the French First World War leader Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (1841-1929), construction began in the port of Saint-Nazaire and completed at the Brest shipyard. Her keel was laid in November 1955 and launched on December 21, 1957. It was commissioned on November 22, 1961.

The warship was based on the "home port" of Brest during its sea voyage and was nicknamed "Clem".

France, along with other world powers, continued to use aircraft carriers to lead the main fleet shortly after World War II (1939-1945). The enemy then was now the Soviet Union and its proud submarine force.

However, aircraft carriers proved to be the "kings of the sea" during World War II, so almost all Western naval powers invested in maintaining a healthy fleet of aircraft carriers that could engage the enemy anytime, anywhere.

The Clemenceau class was designed back in the early 1950s, when the French Navy was looking for up to six locally designed, engineered and built standard ships. However, due to limitations, only two were soon built - FS Clemencea and FS Foch.

The ships displace around 22,000 tonnes under standard load and up to 32,800 tonnes under full load. Dimensions include a barrel length of 869 feet, a beam of 168 feet and a draft of up to 28 feet. Power comes from 6 Indret boilers sending 4 126,000 hp steam turbines to 2 shafts below the stern.

The flight deck is of a typical "straight-through" design, with a sloping runway section above the port side, allowing the ship to launch multiple aircraft simultaneously. The island superstructure is skewed to starboard and a hangar lift allows aircraft access to the supply/maintenance deck below. Up to 40 fighter jets and support platforms can be transported, including the French-made Dassault Ensign series and the American Vought F-8 Crusader.

Self-defense was provided by 8 x 100mm turrets, which were later modernized (in the 1990s) with 4 x Crotale SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile) systems at the expense of 4 100mm turrets. The total crew is approximately 1,900, including key Air Force personnel and shipboard security personnel.

The warship is equipped with the usual sensor, processing and communication systems covering air search, surface search, navigation and fire control operations.

FS Clemenceau and her sister, upon commissioning, marked the first purpose-built aircraft carrier for the French Navy. As a result, the couple went through constant revisions throughout their lives. In 1962 she took part in NATO exercises in Mediterranean waters and in 1968 attempted to locate the wreck of the missing submarine FS Minerve (S647) (which was never found).

Later, French nuclear tests saw the Pacific carrier as the flagship of the 40-man French naval presence in the Polynesian region. From 1974 to 1977, during Djibouti's independence, she was stationed in the Indian Ocean during operations "Safir 1" and "Safir 2".

She was stationed in Gulf waters during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) from 1983-1984 and participated in Operation Prometheus in the Gulf of Oman during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).

Their last notable activity was in the 1991 Gulf War, as part of a coalition that arranged to defeat Saddam Hussein and his vaunted Iraqi army, which had invaded neighbouring the previous year. country of Kuwait. In addition, the warship was temporarily involved in the Yugoslav war in the 1990s as part of the UN's involvement.

It was decommissioned on October 1, 1997.

At the end of her service, Clemenceau was delayed by scrapping. An initiative to have them scrapped in India was abandoned due to the protests, so a British company handled the operation. Work began in late 2009 and ended in 2010.

FS Clemenceau was replaced by FS Charles de Gaulle (R91) in service with the French Navy. The Charles de Gaulle is another conventionally powered French carrier design, launched in May 1994 and still in service with the French fleet (2018).

Specification

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