Greenpeace Ship Seized by French Navy : Protest: Commandos storm Rainbow Warrior II near atoll where France plans nuclear tests.

French navy commandos swooped down from a helicopter and seized the Rainbow Warrior II protest ship at dawn Sunday in the South Pacific, firing tear gas, removing 11 crew members and thwarting an attempt by militant environmentalists to block the resumption of nuclear tests.

The Greenpeace ship, trailed for several days by an armed four-vessel French flotilla, was stopped about an hour after sailing into France’s 12-mile territorial zone around the Moruroa atoll, 650 miles southeast of Tahiti, where French preparations are under way for a resumption of nuclear tests in September.

Defense Ministry spokeswoman Capt. Catherine Filibert said in Paris that the ship was taken “under normal procedures” without violence or injuries, although she acknowledged that tear gas was used “to stop the advance of the vessel.”

The crew of Rainbow Warrior II was freed Sunday night, more than 10 hours after the 180-foot ship was stormed as it moved within a mile of the atoll.

Greenpeace spokesman Jean-Luc Thierry was on the ship speaking by telephone with France 3 television in Paris when the commandos swept in.

“They are trying to enter by a portal,” Thierry said. “I see a man with a black mask trying to get in. I think it’s going to happen pretty fast.” He said crew members had locked the cabin doors and portals but added, “We are all gassed,” referring to the tear gas. Then the line went dead.

The seizure appeared to have stopped Greenpeace, for now, from disrupting France’s plans to resume nuclear tests in the South Pacific. However, it was more unwelcome publicity for the French government, which has been sharply criticized since deciding last month to conduct a final round of weapons tests.

The Rainbow Warrior II voyage also touched a government sore spot, coming 10 years after French navy scuba divers placed a mine on the hull of the ship’s forerunner, the Rainbow Warrior, sinking it hours before it was due to leave New Zealand on a similar mission. A Greenpeace photographer was killed in that July 10, 1985, attack in Auckland’s harbor, and two French commandos were convicted of manslaughter in New Zealand.

As a result, Greenpeace’s worldwide reputation was enhanced and the French government, which only belatedly acknowledged that it was responsible, was deeply embarrassed. The defense minister resigned, and the chief of the French secret service was fired. France also offered a formal apology and paid $7 million to New Zealand and $8.1 million to Greenpeace in reparations.

French President Jacques Chirac is unlikely to change his mind about the eight new tests, which he says will be conducted between September and May. In announcing his “irrevocable” decision in June, Chirac said it is necessary, “in the higher interests of France,” to upgrade the nation’s weapons systems before it can sign an international treaty banning all such nuclear tests.

With the additional information, Chirac contends, French scientists can use computerized simulations to keep the nuclear deterrent in working order. Before then-President Francois Mitterrand declared a moratorium on nuclear tests in 1992, France had performed more than 130 detonations at the site, the first of them 29 years ago this month.

But France has come under pressure since Chirac’s decision. Governments in the region, including Australia and New Zealand, have issued strong protests. Demonstrators in Perth, Australia, set fire to the French Consulate there last month, and Australia recalled its ambassador from Paris.

Even in French Polynesia, which is supported financially by Paris, protesters have blocked roads and staged sit-ins in opposition to the testing. And two weeks ago, 10,000 Tahitians greeted the arrival of the Rainbow Warrior II in the largest nuclear protest on the island since 1983.

Chirac’s opponents at home also have objected to the resumption of tests, which they have characterized as an arrogant attempt by French leaders to show their authority as a world power.

“From a political, diplomatic and military point of view, we should never have put ourselves in this situation,” Lionel Jospin, the Socialist who lost to Chirac in May’s presidential election, said Sunday.

French Adm. Philippe Euverte had vowed Friday that, once the Rainbow Warrior II crossed into French territorial waters, it would be diverted without force, in an operation code-named “Nautile 95.” But the French government had notified Greenpeace that it was prepared to use force, if necessary, to stop the ship.

French ships had followed the Rainbow Warrior II since it set sail last week from Papeete, Tahiti. Greenpeace said it planned to come ashore at the atoll for the 10th anniversary of the sinking of the original Rainbow Warrior.

Times staff writer Charles Wallace in Singapore contributed to this story.