Aircraft Carriers in Europe: From an Expensive Tradition to an Inexpensive Universality

... European fleets during the 2000s and their replacement by a very small number of newly commissioned vessels of the same class. France withdrew both Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers from its Navy service: the lead ship Clemenceau was decommissioned in 1997 and her sister ship the Foch was ... ... Carlos I, commissioned in autumn 2010, appears to be only large aircraft carrier of the Spanish Navy. Against this background, Italy looks to be quite an exception. Despite repeated declared reductions of the military budget in 2012 and early 2013, the ...