Bismarck is in my opinion the quintessence of a battleship. There were no buyers, so the navy refloated the vessel to clear the harbor bottom and while under tow it broke in half and sank again. The defenses of Dakar were now alerted. The second attack, resulting in the Battle of Dakar, followed in September and involved a planned landing of Free French Forces to seize the colony. They carried a number of small boats, including eight motor boats, a pair of motor launches, three motor pinnaces, two whale boats, two dinghies, and two small flat-bottomed boats. Table 1. And in July, her Loire seaplanes finally arrived; tests with the catapults were conducted in October. Richelieu, the battleship Anson, and the carrier Furious departed Scapa Flow on 10 February for a raid on German shipping off occupied Norway. They were supplied with a total of 3,600 semi-AP and high explosive rounds, the former for surface targets and the latter for use against aircraft. Richelieu fired seven salvos with her main battery and used her secondary guns to once again silence the coastal battery on the island. The turrets were modifications of the low-angle Mle 1930 turrets used in the La Galissonnière class of light cruisers, with improved elevation to 90 degrees to allow them to engage aerial targets. They reached Dakar on 14 September, and after disembarking the men and supplies, continued on south to French Equatorial Africa (in what is now present-day Gabon). On October 14, Richelieu sailed for Mers el-Kebir and later to Scapa Flow, where she arrived on November 20, 1943. The first, during Operation Catapult in July 1940, centered on attacks by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers that scored one torpedo hit but did not do serious damage. Besides, real life performance of the Iowas trumps that IMO. American 6-inch/47 Mk 16 shells were used as a starting point to supply the 152 mm guns, as they were the same caliber and required relatively minor modifications for use in the French weapons. At the same time, the shipyard began building a steel cofferdam around the ship that was to have been completed by late October, which would allow the rest of the hull to be pumped dry. Get your free domain name today, before it's gone. The fire control systems for the main battery had to be replaced and those for the secondary guns were repaired with new wiring and telephones. In order to maintain parity, the French realized that similar vessels would be required to counter the new Italian ships. After landing the troops with no opposition, Richelieu moved to Singapore on 11 September to participate in Operation Tiderace, the liberation of the city, the following day. The two vessels then proceeded on to Dakar, where they arrived at 17:44 on 23 June. Between 06:25 and 08:00 on 24 September, the British launched three strikes with Swordfish and Blackburn Skua bombers. She stopped in Algiers on 26 March to take on additional supplies; there, she was visited by General Henri Giraud and Admiral André Lemonnier. 5 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to begin the modernization. The strike proceeded uneventfully for Richelieu and on 18 May the American contingent detached to rejoin the main American fleet in the Pacific while the Eastern Fleet returned to Trincomalee, arriving on 27 May. She was powered by four Parsons geared steam turbines and six oil-fired Sural water-tube boilers, which developed a total of 155,000 shaft horsepower (116,000 kW) and yielded a maximum speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph). German naval construction was at that time directed against France; the two Scharnhorst-class battleships had been laid down to counter the Dunkerques and the two Bismarck-class battleships had been ordered to match the two Richelieus. Project 2 used one twin and two triple turrets, Project 3 incorporated one quadruple and two twin turrets, while Project 4 used three triple turrets. [47], In November, American and British forces invaded French North Africa in Operation Torch; Jean Bart initially helped to resist the attack, engaging in a gunnery duel with the American battleship USS Massachusetts and heavy cruisers on the first day of the invasion. Though permitted to build two battleships after 1927, French naval planners were more concerned with cruisers. On the approach of the sloops Commandant Dominé and Commandant Duboc at 08:10, Richelieu again fired warning shots from her 100 mm guns. At 07:15, the ships ceased firing, and in the brief bombardment, Richelieu had fired 81 main battery shells—this amounted to a rate of fire of a salvo every 50 seconds, nearly twice as fast as the British ships. Further repairs were hampered by the German Armistice Commission, which attempted to slow progress to prevent the ship from returning to full operational status. King George V would only commission a few months later. [48][49][50][51], Following the defection of French forces in the region to the Allied side, the French attempted to have the ship completed in the United States. Most work on the ship was completed by 1955, when she formally entered active service, and she conducted two overseas cruises to visit Denmark and the United States shortly thereafter. On 8 November, American and British forces landed in French North Africa (code-named Operation Torch), which prompted the Germans to invade the rest of Vichy France, which in turn led Darlan to defect to the Allies with the rest of the fleet. The workers focused on installing the turbines and boilers to allow her to get underway. In the early 1930s, the French Navy began construction of the two small Dunkerque-class battleships in response to the German Deutschland-class cruisers. 4 dock that had recently built Dunkerque. The Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy)—France's other major naval rival—announced on 11 June 1935 that it would begin building two 35,000-long-ton (36,000 t) battleships of the Littorio classin response to the Dunkerques. i'm back with the ship battles so just sit back and relax and enjoy the bismarck and washington go head to head. As part of these preparations, both Plançon and Cayla, who were suspected of being pro-British, were removed from their posts, with Plançon's place taken by CA Platon and then CA Landriau. Six new 37 mm ACAD twin mounts would be added to supplement the 100 mm guns; four of these would be placed a deck higher and further inboard than the 100 mm guns aft and the other two would be placed on either side of the superfiring main turret. [37], The ship's armament required extensive repairs and modifications to bring Richelieu up to modern standards. Steering was controlled by a single counter-balanced rudder; the rudder could be controlled via the conning tower, the secondary conning position in the superfiring main battery turret, or directly in the steering compartment. The barbettes that supported the turrets had 405 mm (15.9 in) thick armor above the main deck and reduced to 80 mm (3.1 in) below. It consisted of a single strake of armor plate that was 6.25 m (20.5 ft) tall, of which 3.75 in (95 mm) was above the waterline. With that completed, she steamed north to Cherbourg, arriving to be dry-docked on 16 March. Richelieu thereafter departed for the Suez Canal, steaming at a speed of 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph); while underway, she began to experience significant boiler problems. But it also presented problems for the design staff, since the superstructure would have to be moved forward to have enough space aft for the main battery turret and magazine, which then required extensive redesign of the hull to move the machinery spaces and keep a proper trim. [1], The French naval command issued specifications for a new battleship design in response to the Littorios on 24 July, less than two weeks after the Italian ships were announced. [25], It also forced the aviation facilities to be completely redesigned, as the aft main turret occupied the space that had previously housed the hangar. As a result, Richelieu was detached for other operations. France, heavily reliant on her connections to her Afri… Richelieu arrives in New York. Myth #2: The Montana was Designed to Counter the Yamato 5 also exploded, leaving No. Richelieu was a French fast battleship, the lead ship of the Richelieu class.Built as a response to the Italian Littorio class, the Richelieus were based on their immediate predecessors of the Dunkerque class with the same unconventional arrangement that grouped their main battery forward in two quadruple gun turrets.They were scaled up to accommodate a much more … Engine testing began on 14 January 1940, and a week later her main battery was completed when the last barrel was installed. The ship would carry the SNCAC NC.420 floatplane, which had been developed to replace the Loire 130. The Free French then attempted to land further east at Rufisque, but were repulsed. Also, significant British naval units were in the area, including the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes moored in Dakar and the British South Atlantic Squadron, which was nearby. The turrets allowed elevation to 35 degrees, which provided a maximum range of 41,500 m (136,200 ft); the guns could depress to -5 degrees. The ships' superstructure was fairly minimal; it featured a single tower mast directly behind the armored conning tower, along with a small deck house directly aft of the funnel. The German battleship Bismarck and her sister-ship Tirpitz were the largest warships of their type to be constructed in Europe. She was present for the Japanese surrender of Singapore at the end of the war. The design staff considered 380 and 406 mm (16 in) guns, but the latter could not be incorporated in a design that remained within the 35,000 long tons (35,560 t) limit imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty and was quickly discarded. It's a real naval legend, that gave the RN a headache, and fought like a lion in the Atlantic. Wiring in the area was also cut by fragments and needed to be replaced. The Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy)—France's other major naval rival—announced on 11 June 1935 that it would begin building two 35,000-long-ton (36,000 t) battleships of the Littorio class in response to the Dunkerques. (No, I’m not going to make it as simple as that. It ended in the destruction of the two finest warships the world has ever seen and claimed the lives of almost 3,500 men. The Sural boilers were experimental, and were thus a major risk to take with what were to be the most powerful capital ships of the French fleet; they nevertheless proved to be generally reliable in service. The Italian ships were to be armed with nine 381 mm (15 in) guns, significantly more powerful than the eight 330 mm (13 in) guns of the French ships. Richelieu conducted full-power trials on 13 June, reaching 32.63 knots (60.43 km/h; 37.55 mph) from 179,000 shp (133,000 kW), exceeding her design performance. Because the compact Sural boilers allowed the machinery spaces to be shortened, the ships featured a very compact superstructure. She departed on 29 December and arrived in Toulon on 11 February 1946, thereafter taking part in the transport effort to send French soldiers back from France to North Africa. The ship was seized by the Germans, renamed Schlachtschiff R (Battleship R), with consideration briefly given to completing the ship, but shortages of materials and shipyard workers rendered it an unrealistic project. First, three of the eight main battery guns had to be replaced, which required removing the turret roof. - Littorio class versus everything in all battles (0 hits at all ranges) - West Virginia vs Yamashiro (93 shells fired in 16 salvos at 22,000 yards for 5 salvo hits, a 31% hit prob.) The bombardments carried out earlier in the year had revealed excessive dispersion of the main battery shells, particularly if both guns on one side of the turret were fired at the same time. As a result, much of the improvement was limited to the installation of a new anti-aircraft battery of the latest US weapons and auxiliary equipment in addition to a thorough overhaul and permanent repairs to the torpedo damage. Her crew numbered 1,569 officers and men. He also instructed the coastal batteries to open fire if she closed to within 15 km (9.3 mi), though Dorsetshire remained at a distance. Before she departed Brest, her 380 mm guns were removed and two were later preserved, one in Brest and the other in Ruelle. All three basic formats included several variations that incorporated changes to the composition and arrangement of the secondary and anti-aircraft batteries. Illustrious, joined by the carrier Victorious, which had recently arrived, provided air cover to the fleet. The ship's belt armor was 330 mm (13 in) thick amidships, and the main battery turrets were protected by 430 mm (17 in) of armor plate on the faces. Heavy use of the pumps caused frequent breakdowns, which further slowed work. Marzin ordered that a stockpile of 330 mm propellant charges that had been stocked for the battleship Strasbourg before France's surrender to be converted into charges that were usable by Richelieu. On 4 July, the day after the British had attacked Mers-el-Kébir, Plançon ordered the submarines Le Glorieux and Le Héros to attack Dorsetshire while it cruised off the port. [18], The ships' underwater protection system was based on the system used in the Dunkerque class. Bethlehem Steel fabricated a replacement that was installed in June. In return, Richelieu hit Barham in the bow, causing minor damage. The fleet then proceeded to the Andamans, and at 17:30, Richelieu opened fire at Port Blair; poor visibility hampered her shooting, and she ceased fire at 18:07, by now having expended the main battery ammunition that had been allotted for the bombardment. Displacement was reduced slightly. She also took aboard gold reserves from the Bank of France and 250 cadets from the École Navale (Naval Academy). The two upper directors for the secondary battery on the foremast had 8- and 6 m (20 ft) rangefinders while the mack director also had a 6 m rangefinder. They could be overloaded to 1,250 kW (1,680 hp) for up to five minutes. Admiral Laurence E. Power, who had replaced Somerville as the fleet commander, detached Richelieu for a refit. She incurred minor damage to her bow 20 mm guns from the blast effects of firing the main battery nearly directly forward. If power to the steering gear failed completely, a backup manual steering gear that required twenty-four men to operate could be used. With her normal displacement now at 43,600 t (42,900 long tons) and her hull slightly bowed (possibly caused by the torpedo hit), Richelieu began machinery trials in late September. The ships arrived on 11 February and on the 18th, Richelieu was taken into Dock No. You are confusing her with her Atlantic-built contemporaries, which had large range, and were susceptible to being "mission killed" via battle damage (see Bismarck). They blocked the shipment of new guns or a new propeller shaft, and severely constrained the transfer of other equipment. The turbo generators provided power while the ship was underway, and two were placed in engine room #1 while the other pair were their own compartment aft of the propulsion machinery. Ninety minutes later, the British battleships and two heavy cruisers approached and fired their 380 mm main batteries at Richelieu. These included escorting British and American aircraft carriers as they struck Japanese facilities in the occupied Dutch East Indies and several bombardment operations that revealed problems with excessive shell dispersion from her main battery guns. One of their torpedoes struck the ship aft on the starboard side and tore a hole that was 9.3 by 8.5 m (31 by 28 ft) between the propeller shafts. [14], As designed, the light anti-aircraft battery was to have consisted of 37 mm (1.5 in) automatic guns in twin Mle 1935 mounts, but these were not ready by 1939, and so the two amidships 152 mm turrets were replaced with a group of twelve 100 mm (3.9 in) /45 Mle 1930 anti-aircraft guns in twin turrets. The rest of the naval command preferred the B version adopted for Gascogne and questioned why Darlan had approved the A variant for Clemenceau; he stated that he hoped to be able to lay down the third Richelieu-class ship in late 1938 and that the necessary redesign work for the hull interior that the B variant required would delay construction by twelve months at a minimum. Two days later, Richelieu, Queen Elizabeth, and six destroyers steamed to Colombo to rest their crews. [26], Another major effect of the main battery rearrangement was the need to lengthen the belt armor, which necessitated alterations to keep displacement in check. The guns were supplied with a total of 832 armor-piercing shells, which weighed 884 kg (1,949 lb) and had a muzzle velocity of 830 meters per second (2,700 ft/s). In the early 1930s, the French Navy began construction of the two small Dunkerque-class battleships in response to the German Deutschland-class cruisers. The French laid smoke screens to obscure Richelieu before the British returned to the action at 12:53, initially targeting a destroyer before bombarding the port for the next 30 minutes. The catapults were offset en echelon, with the starboard mount further forward than that on the port side. Under the terms of the armistice, Richelieu was to be returned to Toulon, where she would be demobilized, though the Germans later decided against permitting the move, as they feared the British would try to seize the ship during the passage through the Strait of Gibraltar; the British, meanwhile, were under the mistaken impression that the Germans sought to seize the French fleet for their own use. [76], During the refit, it was decided that the ship's anti-aircraft battery was too dated to allow the ship to operate in the era of jet aircraft; coupled with the need to update the ship's radar and electronics and install more capable command spaces, the costs would have been prohibitively high for the French Navy. It's the first name that comes up in my mind when I hear "battleship". On 10 October, the workers attempted to attach the patch that had been manufactured, but it did not work; it did not create a watertight seal, which meant the compartments could not be pumped out. After completing the overhaul and modernization, the ship served with the British Home Fleet in early 1944; there, she served as part of the force guarding against the German battleship Tirpitz that threatened the convoy lanes to the Soviet Union. The conning tower had 340 mm (13 in) thick sides, a 280 mm (11 in) rear, and 170 mm on the roof. She nevertheless returned on 2 May to shell the harbor with her secondary guns, firing 120 rounds and inflicting significant damage to the harbor facilities. [37][38], Richelieu was part of the force that liberated Singapore and other parts of the Dutch East Indies following the official Japanese surrender in September, during which she detonated a magnetic mine but suffered little damage. The turrets suffered from serious problems that limited their effectiveness, including slow elevation and training speeds and a tendency to jam when elevated at angles greater than 45 degrees. The ship began initial testing on 15 October while still fitting-out in an effort to rush the ship into service; the same day, the ship's first commander, Capitaine de vaisseau (CV—Ship-of-the-line captain) Marzin came aboard. The ship, still missing most of its anti-aircraft guns, fled to Dakar in French West Africa to keep her under French control. When Richelieu departed the Mediterranean, Cunningham, now the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, recommended to the Admiralty that she be fitted with gunnery radars. In March, the Allies determined that five battleships to counter the battleship Tirpitz (which had been damaged in September 1943) was excessive. Six proposals were submitted on 27 November. The ship conducted further trials into October, and on the 14th the ship was finally ready to get underway for European waters. The following day, she steamed for six hours at 26.5 kn (49.1 km/h; 30.5 mph), for two hours at 28.9 kn (53.5 km/h; 33.3 mph), and finally for fifty minutes at 30.2 kn (55.9 km/h; 34.8 mph). [27], Work on Richelieu was expedited as war with Germany became increasingly likely in 1939, and she was completed just days before the Germans won the Battle of France in June 1940. [78][79], French naval ship classes of World War II, British attack on 8 July 1940 and repairs, First deployment with the British Eastern Fleet, Second deployment with the British Eastern Fleet, /45 refers to the length of the gun in terms of, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_battleship_Richelieu&oldid=985818443, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 12 × 100 mm (3.9-inch) anti-aircraft guns, This page was last edited on 28 October 2020, at 03:31. [50][51][52], Somerville planned another raid for mid-June: Operation Pedal, a carrier attack on the harbor of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. [61] Allied bombers sank the hulk on 27 August 1944 and after the war, the navy placed the wreck for sale on 23 February 1948. Armor protection versus cruiser-caliber shells was superior, but not versus battleship-caliber. The vessels would also carry a secondary battery of dual-purpose guns, be capable of a speed of 29.5 to 30 knots (54.6 to 55.6 km/h; 33.9 to 34.5 mph), and carry belt armor that was 360 mm (14 in) thick. While in Mers-el-Kébir, the ship was slightly damaged while being moored in the port. These were arranged with two abreast the superfiring turret, two on either side of the forward tower, another two per side of the aft tower, and the remaining four on the quarterdeck, where the aircraft catapults had been. [41], Beginning in late August and continuing into mid-September, Richelieu began firing trials in the Chesapeake Bay; firing the main battery forward on 29 August revealed the need for a blast screen to protect the forecastle 20 mm guns, as the test accidentally destroyed two of the guns and their ammunition lockers. Testing determined the cause of the shell dispersion issue and modifications were made to the turrets to delay the outer guns by 60 milliseconds, which corrected the problem. Dorsetshire nevertheless shadowed Richelieu while she was at sea. The US Navy refused to transfer the latest radar equipment on the basis that it was too sensitive to be released. The thing is that Bismarck had superior fire control, and is considerably more likely to score straddles and hits early in the engagement than Richelieu would (though Bismarck's … Work on the design proceeded quickly, and on 14 August, the navy placed orders for the first two ships, Richelieu and Jean Bart. Both the Vittorio Venato and Bismarck are outmatched by the KGV and Yamato, but as sacrificial lambs could probably occupy them long enough for the Iowa's engagement against Richelieu … [25][26] Guns 5 and 6 remained in action but failed to score any hits. Barham avoided the torpedoes and opened fire, quickly straddling Richelieu and at 09:15, she scored a hit amidships that penetrated above the side armor, causing no casualties. Only HMS Hood, and the two Renow… The compound was also used in compartments on either end of transverse bulkheads to ensure that the central citadel remained watertight. After another 132 reservists from Richelieu were demobilized, a total of 1,039 officers and men were left aboard the ship. 4 dock in Brest, directly after Richelieu had been launched from that dock earlier that day. The main armored deck was 170 mm (6.7 in) thick, and the conning tower had 340 mm (13 in) thick sides. Aware that Allied ships were at sea, Haguro and Kamikaze turned back, though they were spotted by aircraft from the escort carriers and then sunk by destroyers of the 26th Destroyer Flotilla before Richelieu and Cumberland could arrive. The increases to her anti-aircraft armament brought her crew up to a total of 1,670 officers and men. The slipway was not long enough to accommodate the entire length of the new battleship, and so the hull had to be built in pieces. At 09:57, one of Richelieu's secondary guns hit Barham. Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships that were ordered for the Kriegsmarine in the years prior to World War II.Built by Blohm and Voss, the battleship mounted a main battery of eight 15" guns and was capable of a top speed of over 30 knots. Apr 16, 2017 - Dot TK is the only top level domain name registry that provides free domain names. After Germany ordered two Bismarck-class battleships, France responded with another pair of Richelieus, but built to modified designs. Two days later, Richelieu detonated a magnetic mine, though she suffered only minor damage; the force of the blast pushed in some hull plates by 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in) and inflicted minor shock damage to the lighting system, but the vessel remained with the fleet. Richelieu and the other ships conducted shooting practice on 7, 14–15, and 17 July in preparation for the raid. Unlike her sister, Jean Bart was not targeted by British forces during this period. Compared to her original wartime crew of 1,569 officers and men, Richelieu was now to be manned by a total of 1,930, amounting to 86 officers, 287 petty officers, and 1,557 men. Renamed Q432, she was condemned on 16 January 1968 and sold to the Genoa-based ship breaker Cantieri Navali Santa Maria in September. *Cover: Richelieu at sea in 1944 (as seen by the AA on the bridge and dark paint of the bridge). 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Tests with the heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland as group 3 of Force 61 ; mph... Naval command ultimately decided on 14 April 1935 that new dual-purpose mounts for French... To Dakar in French West Africa to keep the bow dry in heavier seas Richelieu vs Littorio direct!