French battleship Bretagne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 The Bretagne under fire at Mers-el-Kebir |
|
| Career (France) |  |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Region of Bretagne |
| Laid down: | 1 July 1912 |
| Launched: | 21 April 1913 |
| Commissioned: | September 1915 |
| Fate: | Sunk by gunfire from HMS Hood, HMS Valiant and Resolution on 3 July 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Bretagne class battleship |
| Displacement: | 23,230 tons (standard) 26,180 tons (full load) |
| Length: | 166 m |
| Beam: | 26.9 m |
| Draught: | 9.8 m |
| Propulsion: | 4 shaft Parsons turbines, 18-24 boilers, 29,000 hp |
| Speed: | 20 knots |
| Range: | 4700 nm at 10 knots, 2680 tons coal and 300 tons oil |
| Complement: | 1133 |
| Armament: |
10 × 340mm/45 Modèle 1912 guns in twin mounts |
| Armour: |
Belt 270 mm |
The Bretagne was a battleship of the French Navy, and the lead ship of her class. She was named in honour of the French region of Bretagne, and was built by Arsenal de Brest.
Contents |
[edit] Construction
Her keel was laid down on 1 July 1912, and she was launched on 21 April 1913. She was completed in September 1915 and carried a main armament of ten of the new 340mm main guns mounted two per turret; two centerline superfiring forward, two centerline superfiring aft and one amidships centerline turret that could fire to both sides. These 340mm main guns had come from the cancelled Normandie-class battleships.
The Bretagne was converted to partial oil firing over the years in 1921 to 1925, and further reconstructed from 1932 to 1934. While her new boilers gave 43,000 hp, this came with only a meager increase in speed to 21 knots.
[edit] Service
Serving in the Mediterranean during both World Wars, the Bretagne sailed to Mers-el-Kebir after the Fall of France in 1940. The British had feared that the powerful French fleet would fall into Nazi hands, and were resolved to prevent this. Thus, after an ultimatum to surrender from the British battleships HMS Barham and HMS Resolution and battlecruiser HMS Hood was refused, the Bretagne was blown up and sunk by naval gunfire from these three ships at Mers-el-Kebir on 3 July 1940, with the loss of 977 French sailors.
Salvaged in 1952, she was scrapped thereafter.
[edit] References
- Anthony Preston, An Illustrated History of the Navies of World War II (Bison Books Ltd., London, 1976) ISBN 0-600-36569-7
- French battleship Bretagne: Ships of Brawling Battleships Steel (HTML) Accessed 11 August 2007.
[edit] See also
- French ship Bretagne for other ships of the same name
- List of shipwrecks in 1940
[edit] External links
|
||||||||
