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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 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.
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 14th 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. On 12 January 2006 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. 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 will be moved to Able UK after the court proceedings of 29 September 2008 authorising the activity.
The Clemenceau arrived at Graythorp on Sunday 8th Feburary 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.