Heller Foch

The aircraft carrier Foch (visual identification R 99) was the sister ship of the Clemenceau. It was the second warship named in honor of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, who stated: "Aircraft [...] have no military value." The Foch, which was laid down in February 1957, was built at the Atlantic shipyards in Saint Nazaire and was commissioned on July 15, 1963. Landings took place on the 165 m long angled flight deck, which was equipped with 4 arrestor wires. The 2 steam catapults, each 50 m long, allowed for the launch of aircraft weighing 15/20 tons at 110 knots. The 2 elevators could lift a 15-ton aircraft to 8.50 m in 9 seconds. Between 1980 and 1981, it underwent an IPER (Periodic Unavailability for Maintenance and Repair), which equipped it with a naval operating system for tactical information, an inertial power system to adjust the flight deck before launching, missile bunkers for AM-39 Exocet missiles, and tactical nuclear weapons. It was capable of carrying 4 or 5 AN-52 and the ASMP6 missile. After a 37-year career in the French Navy, it was sold to the Brazilian Navy on November 15, 2000, which ultimately decommissioned it in November 2018.