The Clemenceau left the dock at the Toulon military base without incident, with boats setting up a 200-meter (yard) security cordon as a helicopter and a navy plane guarded the skies.

Officials said the decommissioned carrier would be taken out of the harbor by several tugs before being towed to Alang in northwestern India, home to the world's biggest ship-breaking yard.

It was expected to arrive in India in two months' time.

The Panamanian-registered Ship Decommissioning Industry Corp said before the ship's departure that it had obtained an injunction from a Paris court preventing Greenpeace approaching closer than 300 meters (yards).

Greepeace and three other environmentalist groups have tried for months to block the transfer on the grounds that Indian shipyard workers are not properly protected from the hazards of working with asbestos, which can cause fatal lung diseases.

A French court on Friday ruled that the four groups had raised "no serious doubts" about the legality of the Clemenceau's transfer from the Mediterranean port.

Another environmental group, Robin des Bois (Robin Hood), said the French state had taken an important step in carrying out 90 percent of the asbestos decontamination work itself, which it said was a first in European shipping.

However, Greenpeace on Saturday condemned the transfer as a "cynical" violation of international treaties on the movement of dangerous waste.

"Once again, the problem of dismantling defunct ships has illustrated the division of labour between the north and the south, which remains the dustbin for North America and Europe," said Annie Thebaut-Mony in a joint statement issued by Greenpeace and the Ban Asbestos pressure group.

The Clemenceau, which took part in the 1991 Gulf War, was taken out of service in 1997 when it was superseded by France's new, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.

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