The Foch was a French heavy cruiser of the Suffren class, that saw service in World War II. She was the first French warship named for the French Marshall Ferdinand Foch.
In the early part of World War II, the Foch and her sister, Dupleix, formed Force M, based at Dakar.
On 14 June 1940, the French 1st cruiser division with Algérie, Foch and escorting destroyers bombarded Vado near Genoa.
She was scuttled on 27 November 1942 in the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon, with open sea valves, plus charges to her main armament, to prevent her capture by the Germans. She burnt for several days, a complete loss, but she was salvaged on 16 April 1943 by the Italians; a repair was planned, but was only 17% finished at the time of the Italian armistice. The ship fell into German hands in November 17, and was used as a floating anti-aircraft shelter after her main and secondary armament were removed and installed in coastal defences. In August 18, 1944, during operation Dragoon, she was scuttled as a blockship to obstruct the entrance of Toulon, and was hit by aerial bombs two days later; after the liberation in early September, the ship was refloated, but was not repaired and was sold for scrap in 1951.
Famous quotes containing the words french and/or foch:
“Just as the French of the nineteenth century invested their surplus capital in a railway-system in the belief that they would make money by it in this life, in the thirteenth they trusted their money to the Queen of Heaven because of their belief in her power to repay it with interest in the life to come.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“A battle won is a battle which we will not acknowledge to be lost.”
—Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929)