The Clemenceau class aircraft carrier are a pair of aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

s which served in the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

 from 1961 through 2000, and of which one currently remains in active service with the Brazilian Navy

Brazilian Navy

The Brazilian Navy is a branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible for conducting naval operations. It is the largest navy in Latin America...

. Clemenceau was France's first successful aircraft carrier design after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and was the backbone of the French Fleet for the duration of its forty years of service.

Background

By the early 1950s, the French Navy had in service a number of aircraft carriers, the most modern of which was Arromanches. However, all of them were small and increasingly incapable of operating modern aircraft, which were steadily increasing in size. To ensure French independence in defence matters, a new class of two modern fleet carriers was envisaged. Displacing just under 35,000 tons each, the new ships would be smaller than the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

's newly commissioned Audacious class

Audacious class aircraft carrier

The Audacious class aircraft carriers were a class of ship proposed by the British government in the 1930s - 1940s.- History :The Audacious class was originally designed as an expansion of the Implacable class with double storied hangars...

 ships, but they would be built from scratch to take advantage of the latest ideas in aircraft carrier design, including angled flight deck, steam catapults and mirror landing aid, and would operate a brand new generation of French designed carrier based aircraft.

Air group

Designed from the outset primarily as attack carriers, the two Clemenceau class ships initially had an air group formed around the new Dassault Étendard IV strike aircraft. As constructed, two squadrons each of ten aircraft were embarked, with a mix of the IVM attack version and IVP reconnaissance type. Additionally, a squadron of up to eight Breguet Alizé

Breguet Alizé

|-See also:-References:*Michell, Simon. . Jane's Civil and Military Aircraft Upgrades 1994-95. Coulsdon, UK:Jane's Information Group, 1994. ISBN 0-7106-1208-7.-External links:*...

 aircraft were embarked for the ASW mission, while, owing to the small size of the ships, the Vought F-8 Crusader was determined to be the only realistic option in the interceptor role, with a squadron of eight aircraft embarked from 1963.

Ships in class

The two vessels of the Clemenceau class are:

• Clemenceau
  Clemenceau (R 98)
  Clemenceau , 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...
  
  , lead ship of the class, was laid down in 1955, , and commissioned in 1961. She served in numerous roles with the French Navy alongside Foch for 36 years until finally decommissioned in 1997. After the end of her service she became embroiled in controversy over her disposal. She is currently in the process of being dismantled and recycled by Able UK
  Able UK
  Able UK is a British based company specialising in the rehabilitation and development of disused sites and facilities, demolition, site reclamation, re-mediation, regeneration and waste disposal...
  
   at Graythorpe
  Graythorpe
  Graythorpe is a village within the borough of Hartlepool and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is located about 1 mile south of Hartlepool....
  
   on Teesside
  Teesside
  Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...
  
  , England
  England
  England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
  
  .
• Foch
  Foch (R 99)
  Foch was the second of the French Navy. She was the second warship named in honour of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, after a heavy cruiser commissioned in 1932, and scuttled in Toulon on 27 November 1942....
  
  , followed "le Clem" by about two years in building, and served slightly longer than the lead ship, being commissioned from 1963 to 2000. However, instead of being destined for scrap, she was immediately transferred to the Brazilian Navy where she continues to serve as São Paulo, the only aircraft carrier currently serving in Brazil.