Richelieu Class Battleship

Richelieu Class Battleship

The Richelieu-class battleships were the last and largest battleships of the French Navy, staying in service into the 1960s. They still remain to this day the largest warships ever built by France. Designed in the 1930s to counter the threat of the Italian Vittorio Veneto-class battleships, the Richelieu class were essentially scaled-up versions of the preceding Dunkerque class, featuring a main battery of eight 380 mm (15.0 in) guns in two quadruple turrets in forward superfiring positions.

Four Richelieu-class ships, of three different subclasses, were designed over the course of three naval construction programs, in 1935, 1936, and 1938; only three were laid down. Only the first two units, the Richelieu and the Jean Bart, were ever completed. They saw service during World War II, first under Vichy control in Dakar (1940) and Casablanca (1942), then under the Allies' control, the Richelieu participating in British Home Fleet and Eastern Fleet operations and supporting the French forces' return to Indochina in late 1945. The Jean Bart was not completed until the 1950s, and took part in the operations off Port Said (Egypt) during the Suez Crisis in 1956. The Richelieu was scrapped in 1968 and the Jean Bart in 1970.