 Dunkerque
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dunkerque class |
| Operators |  French Navy |
| Preceded by |
|
| Succeeded by | Richelieu class |
| Built | 1932–1938 |
| In service | 1937–1942 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Lost | 2 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Type | Fast battleship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 214.5 m (704 ft) |
| Beam | 31.1 m (102 ft) |
| Draft | 8.7 m (29 ft) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph) |
| Range |
|
| Crew |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armour |
|
| Aircraft carried | 2 floatplanes |
The Dunkerque class was a pair of fast battleships built for the French Navy in the 1930s; the two ships were Dunkerque and Strasbourg. They were the first French battleships built since the Bretagne class of pre-World War I vintage, and they were heavily influenced by the Washington Treaty system that limited naval construction in the 1920s and 1930s. French battleship studies initially focused on countering fast Italian heavy cruisers, leading to early designs for small, relatively lightly protected capital ships. But the advent of the powerful German Deutschland-class cruisers proved to be more threatening to French interests, prompting the need for larger and more heavily armed and armoured vessels. The final design, completed by 1932, produced a small battleship armed with eight 330 mm (13 in) guns that were concentrated in two quadruple gun turrets forward, with armour sufficient to defeat the Deutschlands' 283 mm (11.1 in) guns. Strasbourg was completed to a slightly modified design, receiving somewhat heavier armour in response to new Italian Littorio-class battleships. Smaller and less heavily armed and armoured than all other treaty battleships, the Dunkerques have sometimes been referred to as battlecruisers.
The two ships had relatively short careers; completed just before the outbreak of World War II, they served briefly with the Atlantic Squadron in the late 1930s, and Dunkerque made several visits abroad, including to French West Africa in 1938 and visits to Britain in 1937 and 1939. With war looming in August 1939, the French created the Force de Raid (Raiding Force), centred on the two Dunkerques, which was tasked with hunting down the Deutschlands that were expected to operate in the Atlantic as commerce raiders. The French never caught the German cruisers, and instead the vessels were sent to Mers-el-Kébir to deter Italy from entering the war against France. After Germany defeated France in the Battle of France in June 1940, the French were forced to neutralise their fleet, and the two Dunkerques were to remain inactive at Mers-el-Kébir. Unaware that Germany had no intention of seizing the ships, the British sent Force H to sink the ships; Dunkerque was damaged in the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir in July, but Strasbourg escaped to Toulon, where she became the flagship of the Forces de haute mer (High Seas Forces).
Dunkerque was badly damaged in another attack but was temporarily repaired and eventually returned to Toulon for permanent repairs. Strasbourg saw little activity during this period, as the armistice with Germany limited training operations. Dunkerque was still in drydock when the Germans launched Case Anton, occupying the rest of France in November 1942. To prevent the Germans from seizing the ships, the French Navy scuttled the fleet in Toulon. Both ships were badly damaged and were handed over to Italian control, where they were partially broken up. Their hulks, which were bombed by American aircraft in 1944, were eventually sold for scrap in the 1950s.
- ^ Figures are for Dunkerque