NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Clemenceau 1980

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Clemenceau	R98		Arsenal de Brest	11/1955	21.12.1957	12.11.1961	stricken 3.1998
Foch	R99		Penhoët-Loire, St-Nazaire / Arsenal de Brest	2/1957	28.7.1960	15.7.1963	to Brazil 11.2000 (São Paulo)

Technical data

Displacement standard, t	22352
Displacement full, t	31496
Length, m	238.0 pp 265.0 oa
Breadth, m	R98: 29.9 wl 51.2 fd R99: 31.7 wl 51.2 fd
Draught, m	8.60
No of shafts	2
Machinery	2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 6 Indret boilers
Power, h. p.	126000
Max speed, kts	32
Fuel, t	oil 3720
Endurance, nm(kts)	7500(18)
Armour, mm	box protection over machinery and other vital parts: 50 - 30, flight deck: 45
Armament	8 x 1 - 100/55 Mod 1953, 40 aircraft (SE.20 Aquilon 202/203, Étendard IVM/P fighters, Br.1050 Alizé ASW planes)
Electronic equipment	R98: DRBV-20C, DRBV-23B, DRBV-50, 2x DRBI-10, 2x DRBC 32A, 2x DRBC 31D, NRBA-50, CCA radars, SQS-503 sonar, ARBR-16, ARBX-10 ECM suites, 2 Syllex decoy RL, SENIT-1 CCS R99: DRBV-20C, DRBV-23B, DRBV-50, 2x DRBI-10, 2x DRBC 32C, 2x DRBC 31C, NRBA-50, CCA radars, SQS-503 sonar, ARBR-16, ARBX-10 ECM suites, 2 Syllex decoy RL, SENIT-1 CCS
Complement	1338

Air group

Year	Fighters	fighters-bombers	recon planes	ASW planes	Helicopters
9/1967, Clemenceau	6 F-8E(FN)	18 Étendard IVM	---	8 Alizé	---
4/1977, Clemenceau	10 F-8E(FN)	16 Étendard IVM	4 Étendard IVP	6 Alizé	2 Super Frelon, 2 Alouette II
1983, Foch	6 F-8E(FN)	15 Super Étendard	3 Étendard IVP	5 Alizé	6 Super Frelon
1990, both	10 F-8E(FN)	16 Super Étendard	3 Étendard IVP	7 Alizé	2 Alouette III

Standard scale images

Graphics

Aircraft facilities

R98 (fd - 12,000m², ha - 4,140m² / 29,000m³): Flight deck: 265.0.0x51.2m. Hangar: 180.0x(22.0-24.0)x7.0m. There were 2 lifts, fore at centreline (17.0x13.0m, 15t) and aft at deck edge (16.0x11.0m, 15t). There were two BS-5 catapults. Aircraft fuel stowage: 1,200,000l of jet fuel and 400,000l of petrol.

R99(fd - 12,000m², ha - 4,140m² / 29,000m³): Flight deck: 265.0.0x51.2m. Hangar: 180.0x(22.0-24.0)x7.0m. There were 2 lifts, fore at centreline (17.0x13.0m, 15t) and aft at deck edge (16.0x11.0m, 15t). There were two BS-5 catapults. Aircraft fuel stowage: 1,800,000l of jet fuel and 109,000l of petrol.

Project history

Clemenceau, allocated the project number PA 54, was the first carrier designed as such to be completed in France. Considerably larger than PA 28, she was designed to incorporate all the advances made in carrier aviation during the early 1950s. A fully-angled flight deck was provided, together with a mirror landing sight and an altogether more comprehensive outfit of air search and tracking radars.

The length/displacement ratio was exceptional. The flight deck was angled at 8° to the ship's axis. The hangar, as in previous French designs, was offset to port, and has an overall length of 180m, of which 152m were usable. Two 52m Mitchell-Brown steam catapults were fitted. In the original design both would have been located forward, but one was moved to the angled deck in order to create a deck parking area to starboard. The catapults can accept aircraft weights of up to 20t and can produce a speed of 140kts with a 30kt wind-over-deck.

The two-shift propulsion system was remarkable for a ship of this size; the figure of 63,000shp per shaft has been surpassed only by the 'super carriers' of the US Navy.

Originally Clemencau was to have been armed with twelve 57mm twin mountings, but these were subsequently replaced by the new single 100mm, and the ship was finally completed with only eight 100mm single mountings.

A capacity of up to sixty aircraft was contemplated, but by 1960 this figure had fallen to forty, as a reflection of the increased size and weight of the new jets. A new generation of aircraft was specially designed to operate from the new carriers. Two flights of Étendard IVM ground support fighters (into which was incorporated a handful of IVP tactical reconnaissance/tanker aircraft) were embarked, together with a flight of Alizé turboprop ASW aircraft. As a temporary measure the ships operated the Aquilon (Sea Venom) interceptor, but in 1963 forty-two F-8E Crusaders were purchased, and a flight of these was attached to each carrier after minor modifications in 1966. Helicopters, first American and then of French origin, were operated for plane-guard duties and later for ASW. The Étendard PV was replaced by the Super Étendard in the late 1970s, but the small size and light construction of the ships has made it difficult to find a suitable replacement for the Crusader.

Foch had the distinction of being launched twice: once in July 1959 by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, who built the hull up to hangar deck level together with the propulsion machinery, and again in July 1960 by Arsenal de Brest, where the ship was fitted out. She was completed with bulges, which proved so successful that they were retro-fitted to Clemenceau during her 1966 refit.

Ship protection

Armour was provided for the flight deck (45mm) with an armoured box 30-50mm over the machinery and other vital parts.

Modernizations

1966, Clemenceau: bulges were fitted, measures as Foch.

1978, Clemenceau; 1981, Foch: lifts capacity was increased to 20t; - SENIT-1 CCS; + SENIT-2 CCS

1986, Clemenceau: - 4 x 1 - 100/55, DRBV-20C, DRBV-50, NRBA-50 radars, 2x Syllex decoy RL; + 2 x 8 Crotale Navale SAM (36 Crotale R440), DRBV-15, NRBA-51 radars, 2x Sagaie decoy RL; displacement rose to 27307/32780t

1988, Foch: - 4 x 1 - 100/55, DRBV-20C, DRBV-50, NRBA-50 radars, SQS-503 sonar, 2x Syllex decoy RL; + 2 x 8 Crotale Navale SAM (36 Crotale R440), DRBV-15, NRBA-51 radars, 2x Sagaie decoy RL; displacement rose to 27307/32780t

1992, both: + 2 x 2 Simbad SAM (8 Mistral)

1997, both: - 4 x 1 - 100/55; + 2 x 6 Sadral SAM (24 Mistral), 2 x 1 - 30/82 OTOBreda-Mauser Model F

Naval service

No significant events.