Richelieu Class Battleship - History - Clemenceau and Gascogne

Clemenceau and Gascogne

The third unit, the Clemenceau, was laid down in the Salou graving dock as soon as the Richelieu had left it. Work progressed slowly, as the Clemenceau did not have priority in naval building unlike the first pair of the Richelieu class. Thus, in mid-1940 – nearly eighteen months later – she was only 10% completed as a hull section of 130 meters (430 ft). Taken by the Germans as a war booty, she was registered by the Kriegsmarine as Battleship R but the Germans never seriously considered continuation of construction work. Made buoyant, presumably in 1941, to vacate the building basin, moored near the submarine base, or towed to Landevenec, and intended for use by the Germans as a blocking ship to seal off the harbour entrance, this uncompleted hull was sunk during a U.S. air raid at the beginning of the offensive to free Brest (on 27 August 1944) and scrapped post-war. In the late 1950s, the name of Clemenceau was given to the first modern post-war French-built aircraft carrier Clemenceau.

The fourth unit, the planned Gascogne, was intended to be laid down in the "Jean Bart dock" at Saint-Nazaire as soon as the Jean Bart would have freed the building dock to be transferred in the near-by fitting out dock, which was done on 6 March 1940. But, when the ship building yard was occupied by the Germans, in June 1940, the battleship had not been yet formally ordered. No work was ever begun, as the keel was not laid down due to the German occupation. Just some stored parts and material would have been declared war booty and registered as Battleship S.