French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

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Career
The Jean Bart, photographed from a plane of the USS Ranger. Turret number 2 is not yet operational
Laid down:	December 1936
Launched:	6 March 1940
Commissioned:	1949
Decommissioned:	1961
Status:	scrapped in 1969
General Characteristics
Displacement:	48,950 t
Length:	248 m
Beam:	35 m
Draught:	9.60 m
Propulsion:	four Parsons geared turbines, 150,000 hp (112 MW)
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h)
Range:	7671 nautical miles (14,207 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h); 3181 nautical miles (5,891 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h)
Complement:	911 men in 1950 (incomplete) 1,280 men during the Suez affair
Armament:	8 × 380 mm in 2 quad turrets on the bow 9 × 152 mm AA in 3 triple turrets at the aft 24 × 100 mm AA in 12 twin turrets 8 × 40 mm AA 28 × 57 mm AA in 14 twin turrets 20 × 20 mm AA
Armour:	Belt: 330 mm Upper armoured deck: 150 mm Lower armoured deck: 40 mm

For the first battleship with this name, see French battleship Jean Bart (1911).

Jean Bart was a French battleship of World War II named for the seventeenth century seaman and corsair Jean Bart.

The quadruple 380 mm turrets of Richelieu and Jean Bart

Derived from the Dunkerque class, Jean Bart (and her sistership Richelieu) were designed to counter the threat of the Italian Navy. Their speed, shielding, armament and overall technology were state of the art but they had an unusual main armament arrangement with two 4-gun turrets to the front and none to the rear.

Jean Bart was laid down in December 1936 and launched on March 6, 1940. Barely 75% completed, her engine having never worked before, she sailed to Casablanca in June 1940 to escape the advance of the German army in France. Only one of her two 380 mm (14.9 inch) main turrets was present. The second one, with only two of the intended four guns, was loaded on a cargo ship which was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. The 152 mm battery was also missing, and was replaced by anti-aircraft armament.

On November 8, 1942, the French fleet in Casablanca was attacked by American warships and airplanes from USS Ranger. Jean Bart managed to battle USS Massachusetts, taking hits from several bombs and 16 inch (406 mm) shells. On the 10th, Jean Bart opened fire again onto USS Augusta, much to the surprise of the American staff who thought she had been silenced. This drew action from Ranger, and Jean Bart took two 500 kg bombs, which opened a leak, making her run aground. Combat was over in the evening, and the ship was surrendered to Free France.

The Jean Bart attacked by planes of the USS Ranger

Subsequently, it was suggested that Jean Bart be completed in the USA (her sistership, Richelieu, had undertaken refitting there), but this proved impossible. Projects to convert her into an aircraft carrier were studied but rejected. For the next two years the unfinished ship remained stranded in Casablanca.

She returned to France in 1945, and was eventually completed in 1949, under a brand new design influenced by lessons from the previous conflict. Jean Bart took her part in the Suez Crisis. Put into the reserve in 1957, she was decommissioned in 1961, and scrapped in 1969.