The class was a pair of fast battleships built for the French Navy in the 1930s; the two ships were and . They were the first French battleships built since the of pre-World War I vintage, and they were heavily influenced by the Washington Treaty system that limited naval construction in the 1920s and 1930s. French battleship studies initially focused on countering fast Italian heavy cruisers, leading to early designs for small, relatively lightly protected capital ships. But the advent of the powerful German s proved to be more threatening to French interests, prompting the need for larger and more heavily armed and armoured vessels. The final design, completed by 1932, produced a small battleship armed with eight guns that were concentrated in two quadruple gun turrets forward, with armour sufficient to defeat the s guns. was completed to a slightly modified design, receiving somewhat heavier armour in response to new Italian s. Smaller and less heavily armed and armoured than all other treaty battleships, the s have sometimes been referred to as battlecruisers.
The two ships had relatively short careers; completed just before the outbreak of World War II, they served briefly with the Atlantic Squadron in the late 1930s, and made several visits abroad, including to French West Africa in 1938 and visits to Britain in 1937 and 1939. With war looming in August 1939, the French created the (Raiding Force), centred on the two s, which was tasked with hunting down the s that were expected to operate in the Atlantic as commerce raiders. The French never caught the German cruisers, and instead the vessels were sent to Mers-el-Kébir to deter Italy from entering the war against France. After Germany defeated France in the Battle of France in June 1940, the French were forced to neutralise their fleet, and the two s were to remain inactive at Mers-el-Kébir. Unaware that Germany had no intention of seizing the ships, the British sent Force H to sink the ships; was damaged in the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir in July, but escaped to Toulon, where she became the flagship of the (High Seas Forces).
was badly damaged in another attack but was temporarily repaired and eventually returned to Toulon for permanent repairs. saw little activity during this period, as the armistice with Germany limited training operations. was still in drydock when the Germans launched Case Anton, occupying the rest of France in November 1942. To prevent the Germans from seizing the ships, the French Navy scuttled the fleet in Toulon. Both ships were badly damaged and were handed over to Italian control, where they were partially broken up. Their hulks, which were bombed by American aircraft in 1944, were eventually sold for scrap in the 1950s.
Background and development
Wary of another naval arms race similar to the Anglo-German race that was seen as contributing to the start of World War I, the world's major navies held the Washington Naval Conference in 1921 to discuss controls on battleship construction, both to limit their size and armament but also to limit the number of ships that could be built. The resulting Washington Naval Treaty limited the French Navy to of total battleship tonnage; French resistance to a halt on battleship construction, in light of the obsolescent and -class battleships that formed the core of its fleet, led to an exception for France (and Italy) to replace worth of battleships during the moratorium, to be laid down in 1927 and 1929. Maximum displacement of any new battleship was restricted to at standard displacement.
In 1926, the Chief of the Naval General Staff, Admiral Henri Salaun, requested a new capital ship design with a displacement of , intended to counter the new generation of Italian heavy cruisers. The first of these Italian vessels, the two s, were fast and posed a considerable threat to French shipping in the western Mediterranean between metropolitan France and its colonies in French North Africa. The new French vessel would be armed with a battery of eight guns mounted in two quadruple gun turrets, both arranged forward, since the French envisioned using the ships to chase down the Italian cruisers. The ships would have been armoured to resist the guns of the Italian cruisers, and since the guns were concentrated forward, the amount of armour necessary to protect the ship's vitals allowed significant savings in weight. For the prescribed displacement, four such vessels could be built in the allotted 70,000 tons. The concept was strongly influenced by the British s, which mounted their battery entirely forward to save armour weight.
The German s, which were armed with a battery of six 283 mm guns, coupled with hesitance on the French Navy's part to commit to small capital ships while Italy still kept its allotted tonnage uncommitted led the French to abandon the 17,500-ton project. New design studies were prepared in 1926–1927, resulting in several proposals in 1928 for a design. These ships were in most respects an enlarged version of the of heavy cruisers then being built. The increase in displacement brought with it a third quadruple 305 mm turret placed aft and heavier armour protection in a version capable of , while a slower ship was to be armed with six guns in twin turrets. Shortages of funding, both for the ships themselves and the necessary improvements to shipyards and harbour facilities to build and operate the vessels ended the proposals. Additionally, political concerns, particularly French efforts to lead disarmament talks in the League of Nations, convinced the French government to delay the construction of any new battleships.
Design studies continued after the London Naval Treaty, where the British had unsuccessfully pushed for reductions in the maximum displacement and gun calibre. As a show of support for the British position, the French naval command requested designs with a maximum displacement of —the ceiling sought by the British—and a minimum —the maximum displacement that would allow three new ships to be built using the allotted 70,000 tons that France still had available. Apart from the increased size and thicker belt armour, the proposed ship carried the same main battery as the 17,500-ton ship. By this time, Germany had finally begun building the first of the s; this led to renewed concerns over the level of armour protection, which was still too thin to defeat the German 283 mm gun. After pressure from the French parliament over the perceived weakness of the design, the Chief of the Naval Staff issued a new set of requirements, including an increase in standard displacement to , an armament of eight 330 mm guns, and armour sufficient to resist 283 mm projectiles.
As refining work on the design progressed, it became apparent that the 25,000-ton standard displacement was too low to accommodate the requested characteristics, so it was increased first to and finally to . Work on the project was completed by early 1932 and it was formally approved on 27 April. The improved armour layout not only rendered the ships immune to 283 mm fire at expected battle ranges, but it was also capable of defeating the 305 mm guns of the older Italian battleships still in service. The first ship, to be named , was ordered on 26 October 1932, with a second projected for the 1934 programme. The Italian announcement in May 1934 that they would begin building new 35,000-ton battleships armed with guns threatened to throw French plans into disarray, since these ships would be vastly superior to the design, but the first French ship had already been laid down and it was too late to redesign the second vessel, , in response. Side armour for the second ship would be slightly increased while design work began immediately on a 35,000-ton counter to the Italian ships, which produced the .
The -class ships' relatively small size and light armament and emphasis on speed rather than protection, especially compared to the other treaty battleships of the period, has led some to classify them as battlecruisers.
Characteristics
The two ships differed slightly in their dimensions; both were long between perpendiculars, while was long overall while was overall. The two ships both had a beam of . displaced standard, normally, and fully loaded. was slightly heavier, at standard, normally, and at full load, with the difference being the result of increased armour protection. Draft for measured normally and increased to at full load, and drew at normal loading and at full load.
had a crew of 81 officers and 1,300 sailors, while s crew consisted of 32 officers and 1,270 sailors, the additional crew aboard being an admiral's staff, as she typically operated as a flagship. Each vessel carried a number of smaller boats, including a variety of motor pinnaces, whaleboats, launches, and dinghies. Steering was controlled by a single rudder; the rudder had a range of train from 0 to 32 degrees from the centreline, but had a tendency to jam when turned further than 25 degrees. The rudder was electrically operated, but the ships also had manual controls in the event of a power failure.
The ships carried three Loire 130 seaplanes for use as reconnaissance and spotter aircraft on the fantail, and the aircraft facilities consisted of a steam catapult, a hangar, and a crane to handle the floatplanes. The hangar had two storeys and an internal elevator and included workshops to maintain the aircraft while underway. The crane could be folded flat across the deck while not in use.
Machinery
The ships were powered by four sets of Parsons geared steam turbines driving four 3-bladed screws for and 4-bladed screws for . Steam was provided by six oil-fired water-tube boilers, ducted into a single large funnel. The s adopted the unit system of machinery for their propulsion system, which split the machinery into two separate systems. The arrangement offered improved damage resistance, since one system could be disabled due to battle damage and the other could remain in operation. The ships' boilers were arranged in side-by-side pairs in three boiler rooms; the first was placed below the command tower and the other two were placed below the funnel. The turbines were divided between two engine rooms; the first contained the outer shafts and was placed between the boiler rooms, and the inner turbines were placed in an engine room aft of the rear boiler room.
The ships were rated for a top speed of from as designed. On speed tests, reached a maximum of from , while made from . Fuel oil storage amounted to in peacetime but it was reduced to in wartime to prevent the weight of fuel from reducing the armoured freeboard. At a cruising speed of under wartime fuel conditions, the ships had a range of , and at , their cruising radius fell to . The ships' electrical systems were powered by four turbo generators, with two per engine room, with backup power for critical systems provided by two diesel generators located below the tower. For use while in port, three diesel generators were fitted, and these were located in a separate room below the ammunition magazines for the main battery.
Armament