List of battleships of France
This is a list of French battleships of the period 1859–1970. Note that the dates given are the ships' launch date.
The French Navy pursued three main lines of development with these ships:
- Large sea-going battleships. The first generation were broadside ironclads; the next generation were central battery ships with some guns in barbettes to give all round fire. The French then abandoned the central battery in favour of a narrow armoured belt and a main armament in barbettes. Two French battleships Brennus and Charles Martel were abandoned in the 1880s, in part because it was believed that more money should be spent on high-technology weapons such as torpedo boats.[1] The French adopted the lozenge layout in the 1880s and 1890s, and only adopted the 'pre-dreadnought' layout in the late 1890s. Like other powers the French laid down 'dreadnoughts' before the First World War, but their dreadnought programmes were cut short by the war. During the 1930s, the French laid down new fast battleships; the Dunkerque-class battleships were designed to counter the Deutschland-class cruisers and were rivals of the German Scharnhorst class, the Richelieu-class battleships were designed to counter the Italian Littorio class and were rivals of the German Bismarck class. The last French battleship was scrapped in 1970.
- Stationnaire battleships. These were smaller versions of the large battleships, and were often used on foreign stations where they did the job of a battleship. Development of this type was abandoned in the 1880s in favour of armoured cruisers.[1]
- Coastal service ships. The first of these was the steam-powered ironclad 'floating batteries' used to attack Russian fortifications in the Crimean War. More were built in the early 1860s; then they built a series of low freeboard turret and barbette ships, some of which were arguably sea-going battleships.[1]
Sea-going battleships
Broadside ironclads
- Gloire class 5,603 tons.[2]
- Couronne (1861) 5,983 tons – hulked 1910.[2]
- Magenta class 6,715 tons.[2]
- Provence class 5,700 – 6,122 tons.[2]
- Provence (1863) – stricken 1884.[2]
- Savoie (1863) – stricken 1888.[2]
- Héroïne (1863) – hulked 1894.[2]
- Flandre (1864) – stricken 1886.[2]
- Magnanime (1864) – stricken 1882.[2]
- Surveillante (1864) – stricken 1890.[2]
- Valeureuse (1864) – stricken 1886.[2]
- Gauloise (1865) – stricken 1883.[2]
- Guyenne (1865) – stricken 1882.[2]
- Revanche (1865) – BU (broken up) 1893.[2]
Stationnaire broadside ironclads
- Belliqueuse (1865) 3,717 tons – expended as a target 1886.[2]
Central battery ships with barbettes
- Océan class 7,580/7,775 tons.[2]
- Friedland (1873) 8,850 tons – stricken 1902.[2]
- Richelieu (1873) 8,984 tons – sold 1901, sank in the Bay of Biscay after sale.[2]
- Colbert class 8,750 tons.[2]
- Redoutable (1876) 9,224 tons, first warship in the world to use steel as the principal building material – stricken 1910.[2]
- Dévastation class 10,450 tons.[2]
- Dévastation (1879) – BU 1922.[2]
- Courbet (1882) ex-Foudroyant – stricken 1910.[2][3]
Stationnaire central battery ships with barbettes
- Alma class 3,513–3,828 tons.[2]
- La Galissonnière class 4,585–4,645 tons.[2]
- La Galissonnière (1872) – stricken 1894.[2]
- Triomphante (1877) – sold 1903.[2]
- Victorieuse (1875) – hulked 1900.[2]
Barbette ships
- Amiral Duperré (1879) 11,030 tons. Though this ship was designed for sail as well as steam power, her sails were removed before completion.[1] – stricken 1909.[2]
- Amiral Baudin class 11,720 tons,[2] the first French sea-going battleships without any sail power.[4]
- Amiral Baudin (1883) – hulked 1909.[2]
- Formidable (1885) – stricken 1911.[2]
- Hoche (1886) 10,820 tons, turrets & barbettes – target 1913.[2]
- Marceau class 10,558–10,810 tons.[2]
- Charles Martel class 10,600–10,650 tons, slightly enlarged Marceaus.[5]
Stationnaire barbette ships
.jpg)
A painting of a Vauban class battleship
- Bayard class 5,915–6,260 tons.[2] Smaller versions of Amiral Dupperré, with full sail power.[1]
- Vauban class 6,112 tons. Improved Bayards.[2]
Turret ships
Liberté
- Brennus (1891) 11,190 tons, the first large ship with Belleville boilers,[4] – BU 1922.[2]
- Charles Martel 11,693 tons – stricken 1922.[2]
- Carnot (1894) 11,954 tons – stricken 1922.[2]
- Jauréguiberry (1893) 11,637 tons – BU 1934.[2]
- Masséna (1895) 11,735 tons – hulked, then scuttled as a breakwater at Cape Helles 1915.[2]
- Bouvet (1896) 12,007 tons – mined 1915.[2]
- Charlemagne class 11,100 tons.[2]
- Charlemagne (1895) – stricken 1920.[2]
- Saint Louis (1896) – BU 1933.[2]
- Gaulois (1896) – torpedoed 1916.[2]
- Iéna (1898) 11,860 tons – sank after explosion 1907.[2]
- Suffren (1899) 12,527 tons – torpedoed 1916.[2]
- République class 14,605–14,900 tons.[2]
- République (1902) – stricken 1921.[2]
- Patrie (1903) – stricken 1928.[2]
- Liberté class 14,489–14,860 tons.[2]
- Danton class ("semi-Dreadnoughts") 18,318 tons normal, 19,763 tons full load.[7]
- Danton (1909) – torpedoed 1917 in Tyrrhenian Sea.[7]
- Voltaire (1909) – condemned 1935, BU 1939.[7]
- Diderot (1909) – condemned 1936, BU 1937.[7]
- Condorcet (1909) – deleted 1931, scuttled 1942, refloated 1944, sold for BU 1945.[7]
- Mirabeau (1909) – target 1921–22, BU 1928.[7]
- Vergniaud (1910) – deleted 1921, used as target for experiments until 1926, BU 1928.[7]
Experimental turret ships
Dreadnoughts
.jpg)
Jean Bart in 1918
- Courbet class 22,189 tons normal, 25,000–26,000 tons full load.[7]
- Jean Bart (1911) – renamed Océan 1936, disarmed for use as a training ship 1938, used for explosives trials by the Germans and sank 1944,[8] sold for BU 1945,[7] broken up (BU) 1946–47.
- Courbet (1911) – training ship 1939, taken over by Royal Navy 3 July 1940, transferred to Free French and used as AA guardship, scuttled on 9 June 1944 as part of a Mulberry harbour during the Normandy landings.[7][8]
- Paris (1912) – training ship 1939, taken over by Royal Navy 3 July 1940, transferred to Free French and used as accommodation ship, towed to Brest August 1944, used as a pontoon from 1950, sold for BU December 1955,[7][8] BU 1956
- France (1912) – wrecked 1922.[7]
- Bretagne class 25,000 full load.[7]
- Provence (1913) – sunk at Mers-el-Kébir 3 July 1940, refloated, and repaired at Toulon, scuttled November 1942, refloated 1943, scuttled 1944, refloated and BU 1949.[7][8]
- Bretagne (1913) – sunk at Mers-el-Kébir 3 July 1940, salvaged 1952 and BU.[7][8]
- Lorraine (1913) – interned by the British at Alexandria June 1940 – May 1943, then used by Free French, used as training ship 1945–1953, stricken February 1953, BU 1954.[7][8]
- Normandie class 25,230 full load (all except Béarn were cancelled and scrapped after launching).[7]
- Lyon class 29,000 tons full load, planned under 1912 programme, it was intended to place orders with builders in January–April 1915.[7]
Fast battleships
- Dunkerque class 26,500 tons standard, 30,750–31,400 tons normal, 35,500 tons deep load.[8]
- Dunkerque (1935) – sunk at Mers-el-Kébir 6 July 1940, refloated September 1942, scuttled November 1942, refloated 1945, sold for BU 1958.[8]
- Strasbourg (1936) – scuttled November 1942, refloated 1943, sunk 1944, refloated 1945, used as experimental hulk, sold for BU 1955.[8]
- Richelieu class 35,000 tons standard, 43,293–46,500 tons standard, 47,548–49,850 tons deep load.[8]
- Alsace class (two planned but not ordered) [9]
Coastal defence ships
Broadside ironclad floating batteries for coastal service
- Dévastation class built for the Crimean War 1,600 tons.[2]
- Palestro class 1,508–1,539 tons.[2]
- Arrogante class 1,412-1.490 tons.[2]
- Embuscade class 1,426–1,589 tons.[2]
- Rochambeau (1865) ex-USS Dunderberg 7,800 tons, purchased 1867 – stricken 1872.[2]
Armoured Rams
Cerbère and Bélier
- Taureau (1865) barbette ship ram 2,433 tons – stricken 1890.[2]
- Onondaga (1863) ex-USS Onondaga 2,551 tons, purchased 1867 – stricken 1904.[2]
- Cerbère class 3,532 tons.[2]
Breastwork Monitors
Barbette Ships
- Tonnant (1880) barbette ship 5,010 tons. Originally intended to be similar to Tempête, but redesigned as a small battleship with increased freeboard and a gun at each end in barbettes.[1] – stricken 1903.[2]
- Furieux (1883) barbette ship 5,925 tons. Similar to Tonnant for the same reasons.[1] – stricken 1913.[2]
- Terrible class 7,530 tons.[2] Small battleships based on the Amiral Baudin, and intended for operating in the Baltic in case of war with Germany.[1] The British sometimes considered these to be sea-going battleships,[10] and sometimes coastal service warships.[3]
Later Coast Defence Ships
- Jemmapes class 6,476 tons.[2]
- Bouvines class 6,681 tons.[2]
Footnotes
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Ropp, Theodore, The Development of a Modern Navy, French Naval Policy 1871–1904, pub US Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-141-2
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 Chesnau, Roger and Kolesnik, Eugene (Ed.) Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4
- 1 2 Brassey, Lord, The Naval Annual 1890, pub Griffin, 1890.
- 1 2 Hovgaard, William, Modern History of Warships, originally published 1920, pub Conway, 1978, ISBN 0-85177-040-1
- ↑ Brassey, Lord, The Naval Annual 1886, pub Griffin, 1886.
- 1 2 Page 86, Brassey, Lord, The Naval Annual 1886,
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Gardiner, Robert (ed), Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921, pub Conways, 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Gardiner, Robert (ed), Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, pub Conways, 1980, ISBN 978-0-85177-146-5
- ↑ Jordan, John; Dumas, Robert (2009). French battleships 1922-1956. Seaforth Punblishing. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-84832-034-5.
- ↑ Brassey, Lord, The Naval Annual 1887, pub Griffin, 1887.
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