''Foch'' () was the second that served with the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

from 1963 to 2000. The carrier was the second warship named in honour of the

Marshal of France Marshal of France (, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to General officer, generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1793–1804) ...

, British Field Marshal and

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Ferdinand Foch Ferdinand Foch ( , ; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general, Marshal of France and a member of the Académie Française and French Academy of Sciences, Académie des Sciences. He distinguished himself as Supreme Allied Commander ...

. After serving with the French Navy, the vessel was sold to Brazil and renamed . The

Brazilian Navy The Brazilian Navy () is the navy, naval service branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces, responsible for conducting naval warfare, naval operations. The navy was involved in War of Independence of Brazil#Naval action, Brazil's war of independence ...

scuttled Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...

her on 3 February 2023 in the Atlantic Ocean.

Design

The ''Clemenceau''-class aircraft carriers, of which ''Foch'' was the last surviving member, were of conventional CATOBAR design. The landing area was long by wide; it was angled at 8 degrees off of the ship's axis. The flight deck was long. The forward aircraft elevator was to starboard, and the rear elevator was positioned on the deck edge to save

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

space. The forward of two catapults were at the bow to port, the aft catapult was on the forward area of angled landing deck. The hangar deck dimensions are with overhead.

History

The draft statute, prepared by the Naval General Staff in 1949, asked for four aircraft carriers of 20,000 tons to be available in two phases. At its meeting of 22 August 1949, the Supreme Council of the Navy was even more ambitious, where they proposed a six aircraft carrier fleet. On 15 July 1952, the French Navy still wanted two to five for the French Navy (not available to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

). According to RCM 12, the final document of the Lisbon Conference of 1952, France should make available to NATO an aircraft carrier on D-day, two on day 30, three on day 180. But from 1953, the Navy had to revise its ambitions downwards, with a target of three aircraft carriers. The PA 54 ''Clemenceau'', budgeted in 1953, was delayed until November 1955, the PA 55 ''Foch'', budgeted for 1955, was delayed until February 1957. Between 1980 and 1981, she underwent a study to certify the platform before catapulting aircraft, carrying missiles, bombs, AM-39 Exocet and tactical nuclear bombs. Like her sister ship , ''Foch'' underwent a modernization and refit, replacing four of her eight guns with two Crotale air-defense systems. Unlike ''Clemenceau'', ''Foch'' also received in 1997 two Sadral launchers (for 6 Mistral missiles each); those launchers were purchased by France in 1994. The

Dassault Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", or "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French Twinjet, twin-engine, Canard (aeronautics), canard delta wing, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft designed and ...

was test flown from ''Foch'' (but not ''Clemenceau'') after deck modifications in 1992 and operated from this carrier after further 1995–96 deck modifications. After a 37-year career in the French Navy, on 15 November 2000, the carrier was sold to the

, and renamed . In the

, she was succeeded by .

Principal operations

Main naval operations for the époque were conducted by sister ship ''Clemenceau''. ''Foch'' was engaged in the following: * 1966: ''Foch'' participated, with Alfa Force (), to the campaign of French nuclear experimentation in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

. * 1978 : during the Independence of

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

, ''Foch'' deployed in the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

in Operation Saphir II. * 1983 : ''Foch'' participated to the support of the French contingent deployed in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

within the cadre of the Operation Olifant missions. The carrier would rotate with ''Clemenceau'' providing constant on station air support to French peacekeepers in the

Multinational Force in Lebanon The Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) was an international peacekeeping force created in August 1982 following a 1981 U.S.-brokered ceasefire between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel to end their involvement in the conf ...

FSMB and the

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, 425 and Unit ...

UNIFIL. * 1993–1999 : Foch was regularly engaged in Operations ''Balbuzard'', ''Salamandre'' and ''Trident'' in the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

during the engagement of France in ex-

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

within the cadre of FORPRONU and the SFOR and KFOR. The carrier ensured the security of French elements deployed on the ground, and conducted aerial raids under the command of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and

Combat history

In 1977 F-8 Crusaders from 14.F squadron from ''Foch'' participated in the Saphir missions over

. On 7 May 1977, two Crusaders went separately on patrol against what were supposedly French Air Force (4/11 Jura squadron) F-100 Super Sabres stationed at Djibouti. The leader intercepted two fighters and initiated a

dogfight A dogfight, or dog fight, is an air combat manoeuvring, aerial battle between fighter aircraft that is conducted at close range. Modern terminology for air-to-air combat is air combat manoeuvring (ACM), which refers to tactical situations requir ...

as part of the training exercise, but quickly called his wingman for help as he had actually engaged two

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

i MiG-21 Fishbeds. The two French fighters switched their master armament to "on" but, ultimately, everyone returned to their bases. This was the only combat interception by French Crusaders. In October 1984, France sent ''Foch'' for Operation Mirmillon off the coast of

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, in response to tension in the

Gulf of Sidra The Gulf of Sidra (), also known as the Gulf of Sirte (), is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Libya, named after the oil port of Sidra or the city of Sirte. It was also historically known as the Great Sirte or G ...

. She was involved in the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

between July and August 1993, in February and March 1994, and in February and from May to July 1994 in support of UN operations. She also was part of NATO's Allied force operations with Super Étendards flying strike missions over

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

in 1999. She was forced to withdraw early four months into her deployment, the longest in her service history, due to problems with her catapult system and other issues. In 2000, ''Foch'' made her last deployment by leading Task Force 473 on a four month around-the-world tour.

In fiction

''Foch'' was featured prominently in the 1995 film '' Crimson Tide'' as the setting for several televised news reports by American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Richard Valeriani (playing himself in the film) about the ongoing conflict in Russia. ''Foch'' was used in this role after the U.S. Navy refused to assist in the film's production, thus removing the possibility of filming on board a U.S. carrier.

Gallery

File:FS_Foch1.jpg File:Meuse-Foch-RAM.jpg, ''Meuse'' refueling ''Foch'' File:Sao Paulo carrier.jpg, ''São Paulo'', ex-''Foch'' File:Super Étendard launching from Foch (R99) off Lebanon 1983.JPEG, Super Étendard ready to be launched from ''Foch'' during the ship's 1983 deployment to Lebanon File:Grumman F-14A Tomcats of VF-14 fly over French aircraft carrier Foch (R99) in the Caribbean Sea, 1 May 1990 (6451896).jpg, F-14 Tomcats overfly ''Foch'' in 1990 during an exercise.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Sources

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External links

CV Foch
Aircraft Carrier Foch on Alabordache {{DEFAULTSORT:Foch (R99) Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers Ships built in France 1959 ships zh:福熙號航空母艦