force to leave
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French naval task force to leave soon for A-tests
A French naval task force, headed by the aircraft carrier Clemenceau, under the com mand of Rear-Admiral Levesque, is due to leave France for the Pacific about mid-March, ac cording to a Papeete report quoting well-informed sources in Paris.
The task force will police the seas in the vicinity of Mururoa Atoll during the nuclear tests scheduled to be held there be tween May and September or October.
Other units in the force will be the escort ships, Fortin, Jaureguiberry and La Bourdon nais and five or six corvettes.
The Clemenceau, one of France’s two biggest aircraft carriers, has a displacement of 22,000 tons and carries 1,500 men, 560 petty officers and 179 officers.