Clemenceau (R98) — French Aircraft Carrier Model, 30 in
Clemenceau (R98) — French Aircraft Carrier Model, 30 in
How big is it?
Length about 76 cm / 30.0 in. Drawn to scale; the model outline is a simplified shape.
Model details
- Size
- 30 in / 76 cm
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Battle Ship Models
- Item no.
- CM474
France's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, at 30 inches.
Specification
- 30 inches
- Handcrafted hull and superstructure
- Angled flight deck with catapult and arrestor detail
- Island, radar, mast and deck aircraft
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
The ship
Commissioned in 1961, Clemenceau was the first carrier designed and built in France rather than converted or acquired. She served for 36 years — Djibouti, Lebanon, the Gulf, the Adriatic — and was decommissioned in 1997.
Her afterlife became a scandal. Sold for scrapping in 2003, the hull contained tonnes of asbestos, and she was refused entry by Turkey, Greece and Egypt in turn. India accepted her, then reversed the decision after a Supreme Court challenge, and in 2006 President Chirac ordered her recalled to France mid-voyage. She was finally dismantled in England in 2010.
The case changed international law on shipbreaking.