Clemenceau (R 98), often affectionately called "le Clem'", was the lead ship of
her class, and the 8th
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 is to be dismantled and recycled by
Able UK at
Graythorpe on
Teesside,
England.
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 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.
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'.
1993-1996 several tours including combat operations and air patrol over former Yugoslavia 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.
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. Six days later the ship reached
Egypt, where she was boarded by two
Greenpeace activists. 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. 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.
After 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 Graythorp,
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.
The vessel was moved to
Able UK after this was authorised by court proceedings of 29 September 2008. The
Clemenceau arrived at Graythorp on Sunday 8 February 2009 and is scheduled for dismantling after Easter.
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-Breguet Super Étendard; 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
See also
Notes and References
