France (1923-1940): 24(+4) cruisers Introduction The topic of French cruisers could be summup in a few points: It was framed by the Washington treaty limitations, a situation causing a de facto rivalry with Mussolini’s Italy. Like their Italian counterparts, the accent was placed on armament and speed, not protection. They were part of the “tin-clad … Read more
French Navy – Light cruiser The fourth namesake School cruiser Second generation of warship bearing this name, the “Jeanne” as she was nicknamed was a new light cruiser specifically designed for this purpose, with sufficient accommodations in its layout for many cadets: 156 student-sailors and 20 officer-instructors. Started at Saint Nazaire in 1928, launched in … Read more
France – Dunkerque, Strasbourg Genesis: The Dunkerque (Dunkirk) class (Dunkerque and Strasbourg) were the first French battleships launched since the Great War. Following the 1922 Treaty of Washington, and the Treaty of London (1930), France took advantage of the tonnage allocated to her in terms of battleships and cruisers, making a compromise to allow more … Read more
France – Suffren, Colbert, Foch, Dupleix The four musketeers: The Suffren were thought out as 10,000 tons Washington heavy cruisers, follows-up of the previous Duquesne class. The latter were not even completed when plans for the Suffren were laid out. Indeed by 1925, France financed the construction of Suffren, followed the next year by the … Read more
Marine Nationale (1924-1962): Duquesne, Tourville These first French heavy cruisers according to the 1922′ Washington treaty’s new definition, sacrificed protection for speed and were enlarged Duguay-Trouin class. They served in the Atlantic, then Force X in the Mediterranean, disarmed at Alexandria and rearmed and modernized in New York, soldiering with the FNFL until V-Day and … Read more
French Heavy Cruiser (1929-1942) The best “washington” cruiser? Algérie was the last French heavy cruiser. She was also -as many authors agrees- certainly one of the very best, if not the best “Washington cruiser”. Meaning, built within the Washington treaty limitations (1922). She proceeded from two earlier heavy cruisers designs but took a radically new … Read more
France The Béarn, first French Aircraft Carrier: Apart the Foudre, an early seaplane carrier of 1911 converted from a 1890s torpedo-boat carrier, the wartime aircraft depot ships Campinas and Nord, France did not relied a lot on ship-based aviation during the great war, certainly not on the scale of the Royal Navy. However at the … Read more
France – La Galissonnière, Gloire, Georges leygues, Montcalm, Jean de Vienne, Marseillaise The best French light cruisers? The La Galissonière class (good luck pronouncing that!) was the last of this type (the next class, De Grasse, was laid down in 1939, way too late to be completed). Arguably the latter completed post-war after many modifications … Read more
Fast Battleships: FS Richelieu, Jean Bart, 2 more French top battleship Ordered in response to both the German Scharnhorst and the Italian Littorio, the Richelieu and jean Bart took up the essence of the previous design, but incorporated a much more powerful machinery to cope with a much higher armor. They definitely draw a line … Read more
France (1923-1940), about 80 subs Post WW1 policy cleanup After the great war, the move started in 1912 towards a more standardized navy ended the “prototype-mania” that plagued French submarine construction before and during WW1. By 1919, war reparations included German U-boats, which allowed French engineers a close look at that technology, rationalized and optimized … Read more
