![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/French_carrier_Clemenceau_%2528R98%2529_underway_1981.jpg/640px-French_carrier_Clemenceau_%2528R98%2529_underway_1981.jpg&w=640&q=50)
French aircraft carrier Clemenceau
French aircraft carrier, lead ship of her class / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clemenceau (French pronunciation: [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.[1][2] The carrier was the second French warship to be named after Georges Clemenceau, the first being a Richelieu-class battleship laid down in 1939 but never finished.
![]() Clemenceau under way in 1981 | |
History | |
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Name | Clemenceau |
Namesake | Georges Clemenceau |
Builder | Brest shipyard |
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-class aircraft carrier |
Displacement |
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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 |
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Propulsion | 4 steam turbines |
Speed | 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) |
Capacity | 582 air group personnel |
Complement |
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Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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Aircraft carried |
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![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/FS_Clemenceau_%28R98%29_side_view.jpg/640px-FS_Clemenceau_%28R98%29_side_view.jpg)
Clemenceau and her sister ship Foch served as the mainstays of the French fleet. During the carrier's career, Clemenceau sailed more than 1,000,000 nautical 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 the Lebanese Civil War and Gulf War and in air operations over the former Yugoslavia.