The Dupleix was a French heavy cruiser of the Suffren type, that saw service during World War II. She was named for the 18th century Governor-General of French India Joseph François Dupleix.
She was commissioned on 7 July 1932 and based in Toulon, as part of the 1st light division of the 1st squadron. In 1937, she was completely refitted. From 14 October 1939 to the end of January 1940, along with the cruiser Algérie, she was part of Force X based in Dakar.
While on patrol in the Atlantic with the destroyers, Le Fantasque and Le Terrible, she intercepted and captured the German freighter Santa Fé, on 25 October 1939, On 14 June 1940, Dupleix participated in the French raid on Genoa, with sister ships Foch and Colbert.
After the surrender, Dupleix remained with the Vichy Fleet at Toulon. When the Germans occupied Vichy France, she was scuttled, in the Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon. German officers, attempting to take the ship intact, rushed aboard and forced the French crew below decks, and successfully located and closed the sea valves. The ship's captain, capitaine de vaisseau Moreau, ordered the scuttling charges in the main turrets to be lit with shortened fuses and when they exploded and fires took hold, Moreau ordered the final evacuation. French and Germans aboard all fled the vessel. Explosions of the ship's torpedo stores destroyed the vessel, which burned for 10 days.
The Italians raised the ship on 3 July 1943, repaired and commissioned her as FR14, but the fuel shortage of Italy caused the ship to be used only as training vessel; after the Italian armistice, the ship was taken over by the Germans and used as AA battery. The ship was returned to her original French owners in April 1944, but she was sunk again during an allied air raid in August 16. The wreck was broken up for scrap in 1951.
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