The Foch |
|
| Career (France) | |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Ferdinand Foch |
| Builder: | Arsenal de Brest |
| Laid down: | 21 June 1928 |
| Launched: | 24 April 1929 |
| Commissioned: | 15 August 1931 |
| Fate: | scuttled at Toulon, 27 November 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Suffren class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 10,000 tonnes (standard) 12,780 tonnes (full load) |
| Length: | 196 m (643.04 ft) |
| Beam: | 20 m (65.62 ft) |
| Draught: | 7.3 m (23.95 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 3-shaft Rateau-Bretagne SR geared turbines, 9 Guyot boilers, 100,000 shp |
| Speed: | 32 knots |
| Range: | 4500 at 15 knots |
| Complement: | 773 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: | belt 60 millimetres; deck 25 millimetres; turrets and tower, 30 millimetres. |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 Loire-Nieuport 130, 2 catapults |
The Foch was a French heavy cruiser of the Suffren class, that saw service in World War II. She was the first French warship named for the French Marshall Ferdinand Foch.
In the early part of World War II, the Foch and her sister, Dupleix, formed Force M, based at Dakar.
On 14 June 1940, the French 1st cruiser division with Algérie, Foch and escorting destroyers bombarded Vado near Genoa.
She was scuttled at Toulon on 27 November 1942, in the Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon, with open sea valves, plus charges to her main armament, to prevent her capture by the Germans. She burnt for several days, a complete loss, but she was salvaged on 16 April 1943 by the Italians; a repair was planned, but only was finished on a 17% at the moment of the Italian armistice, falling in german hands in november 17, and used as floating anti-aircraft shelter after her main and secondary armament was removed and installed in coastel defences. In august 18 1944, during operation Dragoon, she was scuttled as blockship to obstruct the entrance of Toulon, and was hit by aerial bombs 2 days latter; after the liberation in early september, the ship was refloated, but not was repaired and was sold for scrap in 1951.
|
|
||||||||