Normandie Class Battleship - Construction and Cancellation

Construction and Cancellation

Normandie and Languedoc were ordered on 12 December 1912, followed by Flandre and Gascogne on 30 July 1913. Béarn was ordered on 3 December; the five ships would permit the creation of two four-ship divisions with the three Bretagne-class ships then under construction. Work on the class was suspended at the outbreak of World War I, as all resources were needed for the Army. The government did not immediately mobilize for war, as they expected the conflict to be brief. The first four ships were launched after the start of the war, but only to clear the slipways for other purposes. In July 1915, the Navy determined that the ships were not a priority, and prohibited further work. Later in July, work on the ships' armament was suspended, save the guns themselves, which could be converted for use by the Army. Four of the completed 340 mm guns were converted into railway guns for the French Army. Nine of the guns built for Languedoc were also mounted on railway carriages in 1919, after the end of the war. Several of the 138.6 mm guns were also converted for service with the Army.

At the time work stopped, Normandie's hull was 65 percent complete, her engines were 70 percent complete, and her boilers were delivered but were instead installed in new destroyers. The turrets were 40 percent assembled. Languedoc had 49 percent of her hull and 73 percent of her engines constructed; her boilers were 96 percent complete and only 26 percent of her turrets were built. The hulls of Flandre and Gascogne were 65 and 60 percent complete, respectively, and their engines were 60 and 44 percent assembled. Both of their sets of boilers were used for destroyers. The two ships' turrets were 51 and 75 percent complete. Work on Béarn had not significantly progressed by the time war broke out: her hull was only 8–10 percent complete and her engines were only 25 percent finished. Her boilers were 17 percent assembled, and her turrets were at 20 percent.

In January 1918, a final wartime order specified that the ships remained suspended, but that all material that had been stockpiled for work would remain in place. By that time, some 3,086 t (3,037 long tons; 3,402 short tons) of steel plating that had been earmarked for Gascogne had been taken for other uses. On November 22, 1918, days after the Armistice with Germany, the design staff sent the General Staff a proposal to complete the first four Normandies to a modified design. The General Staff replied that the ships would need a top speed of 26 to 28 kn (48 to 52 km/h; 30 to 32 mph) and a more powerful main battery. Since the dockyard facilities had not been enlarged during the war, the size of the ships could not be significantly increased. This allowed for only modest improvements, particularly for the installation of anti-torpedo bulges. In February 1919, the General Staff decided that the ships would be completed anyway, because new vessels incorporating the lessons of the war could not be completed for at least 6 to 7 years, due to the lengthy design studies such battleships would require.

The Technical Department created a revised design that incorporated some improvements. The machinery for the four ships that had been launched during the war would be retained; increasing their speed to 24 kn (44 km/h; 28 mph) required a corresponding increase to 80,000 shp (60,000 kW), which could be obtained by building new turbines. The elevation of the main guns was to be increased to 23–24 degrees, which would increase the range of the guns to 25,000 m (82,000 ft). The need to engage targets at longer ranges was confirmed by the examination of one of the ex-Austrian Tegetthoff-class ships that had been surrendered to France at the end of the war. The main armored deck was to be increased to 120 mm (4.7 in) to increase resistance to plunging fire. The submerged 450 mm torpedo tubes were to be replaced with deck-mounted 550 mm (22 in) tubes, and fire control equipment was to be improved. Equipment for handling a two-seat spotter aircraft was also to be installed.

After the war, Admiral Pierre Ronarc'h became Chief of the General Staff, and in July 1919 he argued that the Italian Navy was the country's primary rival, and that they might resume work on the Francesco Caracciolo-class battleships that had been suspended during the war. He suggested there were three options for the first four ships: complete them as designed, increase the range of their guns and improve their armor, or lengthen their hull and install new engines to increase speed. The Technical Department determined that lengthening the hulls by 15 m (49 ft) could increase speed by as much as 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph). Nevertheless, by 12 September 1919, he had determined that completing the ships would be too expensive for the fragile French economy. Plans for the four incomplete ships included converting them into cargo ships, fuel tankers, or passenger liners, and using them as floating fuel depots. These plans were abandoned, however. The four ships were formally cancelled in the 1922 construction program, and were laid up in Landevennec and cannibalized for parts before being broken up in 1923–1926. Much of the salvaged material was incorporated into completing Béarn and in the cruisers built during the 1922 program.

Béarn was launched in April 1920 to clear the slip; the Navy had not yet decided what to do with the vessel. Plans to complete the battleship included replacement of the coal-fired boilers with eight oil-fired Niclausse boilers and new, more powerful turbines. A new quadruple turret that allowed for greater range was considered, along with twin turrets mounting 400 mm (16 in) guns. In 1922, the Navy instead decided to complete the ship as an aircraft carrier. Conversion work began in August 1923, and was completed by May 1927. The ship was the first carrier of the French Navy. She served in the fleet through World War II, though she was used as a ferry for aircraft. In 1944, she was refitted in the United States and equipped with a battery of modern American anti-aircraft guns. She remained in service through the First Indochina War, still as an aircraft ferry. She was ultimately broken up for scrap starting in 1967.