Dunkerque class battleship

Dunkerque class battleship
Dunkerque-1.jpg
Dunkerque
Class overview
Preceded by: Lyon-class (planned)
Bretagne-class (actual)
Succeeded by: Richelieu-class
Completed: 2
Lost: 2
General characteristics
Type: Fast battleship
Displacement: 36,380 (Strasbourg approx. 780 more) tonnes
Length: 215.1 m (706 ft)
Beam: 31.1 m (102 ft)
Draught: 8.7 m (29 ft)
Propulsion: 6 Indret boilers
4 Rateau geared turbines
135,585 hp
Speed: Dunkerque: 31 knots (57 km/h)
Strasbourg: 30.4 knots (56 km/h)
Complement: 1,381
Armament:

8 × 330mm/50 Modèle 1931 guns (13-inch) (4×2)
3 × quadruple and 2 double 130 mm AA turrets
5 × double 37 mm AA turrets

4 × double mm AA turrets
Armour:
  • Belt: Dunkerque: 225 mm
    Strasbourg: 283 mm
  • Torpedo bulkheads: 30 mm
  • Deck: Dunkerque: 115–125 mm
    Strasbourg: 127–137 mm
  • Turrets: Dunkerque: 150 - 330 mm
    Strasbourg: 160 - 360 mm
  • Conning tower: 270 mm
Aircraft carried: 4 floatplanes, 1 catapult
Notes: Ships in class include: DunkerqueStrasbourg

The Dunkerque class was a new type of warship of the French Navy built during the 1930s, labeled as 'fast battleships'. Not as large as other contemporary battleships, they were designed to counter the threat of the German pocket battleships of the Deutschland class. They had a specific main artillery arrangement, with two quadruple 330 mm turrets forward. They saw war service, first giving chase, with the Royal Navy, to the German warships attacking commercial maritime routes. Later, after the 1940 British attack on Mers-el-Kébir, they stayed, under the Vichy regime control, in the Mediterranean French harbours, and were both scuttled in Toulon, in November 1942.

Contents

Background

In 1922, the Washington Naval Conference, concluded by the Washington Naval Treaty, decided to stop, for ten years, any new battleship building, as a new naval armaments race was developing, between the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Japan, building or projecting respectively the USS Colorado[1] and South Dakota[2] class battleships, the British G3 battlecruisers,[3] the Mutsu [4] class and Tosa[5] class battleships and Amagi[5] class battlecruisers. The Treaty allowed the United States to construct three Colorado class battleships, the United Kingdom to build two Nelson class battleships, and Japan to build two Mutsu class battleships. France and Italy each were also allowed to replace, after 1927, two of their old battleships.[6]

Germany was not subject to the Washington Treaty limitations, but to specific stipulations of the Treaty of Versailles, and was forbidden to build any warship with a displacement greater than 10,000 tons.[7] This limit was less than the soize of the HMS Minotaur[8] armoured cruiser class, or of the SMS Schleswig-Holstein[9] pre-dreadnought, all built before 1910.

The United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan had used their rights resulting from the Washington Treaty, but neither France not Italy, due mainly to financial difficulties, but also because, even in naval circles, the interest of building battleships seemed very questionable,[10] as no decisive victory had resulted from a cataclysmic clash between battleships, since the American victories of Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba, during the Spanish-American war and the Japanese victory of Tsushima, more than 24 and 17 years earlier.

The W W I experience had clearly shown the problem of ensuring the safety of maritime commercial roads, for which cruisers appeared better suited than battleships, so the first years after the Washington Treaty saw the building of new heavy cruiser classes, by all the countries which had signed it.[11]

In the late 1920s, the most powerful battleships were armed with four double turrets of 15-inches (381 mm)(Queen Elizabeth,[12] and Revenge[13] classes, and HMS Hood,[14] ), or 16-inches caliber (406 mm) (Colorado, and Nagato classes), except the Nelson[15] class battleships, with three triple 16-inches turrets forward. The top speed was, for most of them, of 21–24 knots (Revenge, Colorado, Nelson, Queen Elizabeth battleship classes), for a few ones of 27 knots (Nagato class battleships), with the notable exception of the HMS Hood fast battleship, and the two Renown[16] class battlecruisers, whose speed exceeded 30 knots.

The French Admiralty, under Vice Admiral Salaün and Vice Admiral Violette, had discussed during the 1920s of various ship designs, conceived to "kill" cruisers, more heavily armed and able to outrun heavy cruisers. A displacement of 17,500 tons or 23,333 tons would have allowed to build four or three units, respecting the maximum limit of 70,000 tons, which the Washington Treaty had fixed for the two replacements authorized for France. An artillery arrangement of two 305 mm (12-inches) quadruple turrets forward was examined, combining the choice of quadruple turrets made by the French designers of the Normandie[17] and Lyon battleship classes and the all forward arrangement of the British Nelson battleship class. But designs for ships with these displacements never produced a balanced ship, with such an artillery arrangement, a speed of 34–35 knots, and adequate armour, so no such project resulted in the ordering of a battleship with one of these displacements.[18]

Everything changed when, in February 1929, the German Reichsmarine laid down the keel of Deutschland, an "armoured ship" (in German Panzerschiff), of 10,000 tons tonnage, respecting formally the limitations of the Treaty of Versailles, actually at least 25 % heavier but this was not known at this moment. With two 280 mm (11-inches) caliber triple turrets, and a speed of 26 knots, this ship outgunned every so-called heavy cruiser with their 203 mm (8 inches) guns intended to respect the Washington Treaty limitations concerning the caliber of cruiser main artillery, and outran every battleship, except the three fastest British units, HMS Hood, HMS Renown and HMS Repulse.[19]

The type of Deutschland was commonly designated as a "pocket battleship", being actually as her German denomination indicated well, an "armoured cruiser".[20]

After Deutschland, were laid down Admiral Scheer, on June 1931, and Admiral Graf Spee, on October 1932.[21]

The reaction of the French Admiralty was to prepare draft drawings for a ship which would outclass the German "pocket battleship", in armament, armor and speed. It appeared, quickly that it was not possible with a displacement of less than 26,000 tons, to incorporate two fore quadruple turrets with a caliber bigger than 305 mm, a speed of nearly 30 knots, and an armour able to resist to 280 mm caliber shells.[22] So emerged the Dunkerque class.[23] The lead ship of this class, bearing the name of towns emblematic of the 1914–1918 Grande Guerre against Germany, was included in the 1932 Naval Program, and laid down on December 24, 1932.

On February 14, 1934, two German battleships (or battlecruisers) were ordered. Gneisenau was laid down on May 6, 1935, and Scharnhorst, on June 15, 1935 They were heavier than the Dunkerque class battleships, better armoured, but armed with nine 280 mm guns, the same caliber as the Deutschland class. A heavier caliber had been considered for the main artillery, and was preferred by Adolf Hitler, as the Dunkerque class battleships were armed with 330 mm guns. But when the final design of these ships was about to be settled, Germany was negotiating the 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement, and the British Government was pressing very strongly for a limitation on the battleship main artillery caliber. So reluctantly, an improved gun, with longer barrel, higher muzzle velocity, but the same 280 mm caliber was chosen.[24]

As the French Navy ship designers believed that Dunkerque class battleships' armour was able to resist to 280 mm caliber shells, there would not have been any necessity to conceive an heavier battleship class. But Duce Benito Mussolini had announced, on May 26, 1934, the decision to build 35,000 tons battleships, the first ones since the Washington Naval Treaty.[22][25] The time had occurred to build the first French 35 000 tons battleship. But time was missing to achieve a design for new heavier battleships class : Strasbourg was laid down on November 1934.[26]

Design

The design was very innovative, notably the whole of the main armament mounted forwards. This had been the case for the Royal Navy's Nelson class battleships but they had three turrets carrying nine guns and the angles of fire for the rearmost were limited by the turret in front. The Dunkerques used two quadruple 330 mm turrets which gave unrestricted forwards fire. In the context of the Washington Naval Treaty which limited the upper displacement of ships, the quadruple arrangement had the advantage of saving weight on turret armouring, compared to four double turrets, while retaining the same firepower. The drawback was that a single lucky shot immobilising one of the turrets would effectively put half the main artillery out of action. So the French quadruple turrets of both Dunkerque and Richelieu class battleships, were divided internally to localise damage,[27] and in order to avoid that one unlucky hit damages both turrets together, they were positioned 27 m apart from one another.[23] On the other hand, the entirety of the main artillery was able to fire forwards, as the ship closed in to her enemy, in an angle where she made the smallest possible target.

The mounting of all the main armament in quadruple turrets was a feature unique to the last French battleships design. The quadruple arrangement had been proposed for the unbuilt Normandie and Lyon class battleships, just before World War I. Combined with an all forward disposition, it was found also on the subsequent Richelieu and Jean Bart. But in the French quadruple turrets, the four barrels were not mounted independently in individual mounts because this would have meant an unduly large barbette diameter. For that reason the right and left hand pair of barrels where placed in a common mount each.[23] It was not the case on the fore and aft 14-inches quadruple turrets of the British HMS King George V class battleships.

The guns of the half turrets were so close, that a wake effect between shells fired simultaneously by a half turret led to an excessive dispersal,[28] which was not corrected before 1948 on the Richelieu class battleships.[29]

The secondary artillery was, for the first time on French battleships, a dual purpose one, anti-ship and long-range anti-aircraft, with five turrets of 130 mm caliber, three quadruple armoured turrets aft, with the same two dual mountings as the 330 mm turrets, and two double lightly armoured turrets,[30] beside the central superstructure. But these guns had a too weak caliber for their anti-ship mission, and a poor efficiency as anti-aircraft artillery against close rapid aircraft, as dive bombers, due to a too slow rate of fire (10 shots per min).[31] With five 37mm AA double mountings and eight 13,7 mm quadritube machine-guns, these ships lacked the numerous quick-firing light artillery as it was mounted on the Richelieu, during her refit.

A massive fore control tower was, for the first time, fitted with a internal lift, and topped by three range finders mounted on the same axis. The accumulation of heavy weights high up in the top (85 tons) was noteworthy.[32] A secondary control tower, topped by two range finders, was positioned between the funnel and the aircraft installations (hangar, catapult and crane), fitted to launch three or four seaplanes.

The proportion of armour on the Dunkerque relative to the design displacement reached 35.9%, which was the highest percentage recorded until then. The armour protection of the class was also very modern, as it used the "all or nothing" armour scheme, unlike contemporary German warships. The citadel about 126 m long corresponded to about 60% of the ship's length, but left unprotected a long forward part of the ship.[32] The belt armour was designed to withstand the 280 mm German naval guns. The armoured protection was further increased on Strasbourg, upon the recommendation of the Navy Higher Council; the protection weight was increased by 749 tons, and the proportion of armour relative to displacement reached 37.3%.[30]

The propulsion was assured by six Indret boilers, and four Parsons turbines, with four shafts, for a speed of 29.5 knots, with 112,500 hp. During the speed trials, by May 1936 fo the Dunkerque, and July 1938 for the Strasbourg, the top speed of 31 knots has been reached during two hours, with a developed power of 132,000 hp. The radius was 7,850 nmi at 15 knots, and 2,150 nmi at 28 knots.[33]

During the sea trials, it appeared that the funnel smoke interfered with the use of the aft control tower range finders, so both ships were fitted, in 1938, with a more important funnel cap, nicknamed as a "bowler hat". War service showed that the ships' bows suffered damage in the rough seas of the North Atlantic winter, one of their Flag Officers speaking dedaignously of "hull from trying carene pool".[28] The German Scharnhorst class battleships had the same problem, particularly during the winter 1939-40, even after they had been fitted with a reinforced "Atlantic bow" in 1938-39.

The Dunkerque class battleships seemed to have been relatively lightly built, and suffered damage from the blast, the noise, the smoke and the recoil of her own 330 mm guns firing,[23] and as noted above, the excessive closeness of the barrels of the two pairs of one quadruple turret caused an excessive dispersal of the shells of the same salvo.[28]

The Strasbourg had a fore tower silhouette slightly different, integrating the conning tower and the bridge installations, raising one of the range finders from the roof of the conning tower to the top of the topmost turret mast gallery. [32]

Service

During the Phoney War, Dunkerque and Strasbourg participated with British forces to the safety of commercial maritime roads. From October to December 1939, they tried unsuccessfully to give chase to German surface raiders, Dunkerque with HMS Hood against Scharnhost and Gneisenau, Strasbourg with HMS Hermes aircraft carrier against Admiral Graf Spee.[34] After this operation, 800 powder charges from Strasbourg remained stored in Dakar. This powder was, during the battle of Dakar, used for Richelieu and was wrongly incrimininated in the explosion of Richelieu upper turret 380 mm barrels.[35] Dunkerque, on December 1939, took part in the shipping to Canada of a part of the Banque de France's gold reserve.[34]

From 1939, Dunkerque and Strasbourg, cruisers and large destroyers formed a fast warships naval force, called Force de Raid. Based in Brest, Dunkerque was its flagship. In light of the dubious Italian attitude during the spring 1940, the Force de Raid was permanently transferred to the Mediterranean Sea in late April 1940.[36]

The only test in battle for Dunkerque and Strasbourg came in the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, after the fall of France, on July 3, 1940, from the Force H battleships, HMS Hood, HMS Revenge, and HMS Valiant which they had not been designed to fight against.

Luckily escaping the 15-inch (381 mm) shells of the British guns and the pursuit by HMS Hood and Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers of HMS Ark Royal, Strasbourg and her destroyers escort reached Toulon, in the evening of the following day.[37] As the old super-dreadnought Bretagne capsized and sank, killing nearly 1,000 sailors, Dunkerque suffered four 15 inch shell hits, the first rebouncing on the upper 330 mm turret roof, killing all the men in the right half turret, the second damaging the aircraft installations, the last ones damaging boilers and destroying the electric power plant, so the ship had to be moored on the other side of Mers-el-Kebir roadstead.[26]

The damage was not as deadly as might have been feared, because the British fire ceased after less than fifteen minutes, the French admiral having signaled that he had ordered his ships to cease firing. So Admiral Esteva, C. in C. the French Navy in North Africa, told in a later radio message to the French Admiralty, of "moderate" damages.[38] Knowing this, the British Admiralty ordered Admiral Sommerville, Force H Flag Officer, to attack again, to put Dunkerque permanently out of action.

Dunkerque being beached just in front of a village, Admiral Sommerville, fearing that gun fire might cause serious collateral damages to civilians, preferred to attack with torpedo bombers on July 6. Unluckily again, one of the torpedoes hit a small patrol ship carrying depth charges which was moored alongside Dunkerque . The explosion of the depth charges ripped an enormous hole in the battleship's hull, killing a further 200 sailors, and Dunkerque sank in shallow water.[39]

Strasbourg, in 1941, as the flag ship of a so-called High Sea Force, as she nearly never went to sea, received an early French radar device.[40] In February 1942 having been summarily repaired, Dunkerque returned under her own steam to Toulon, where she was dry-docked.,[40]

Both ships, Dunkerque and Strasbourg, under Vichy control, were scuttled at Toulon, on November 27, 1942, when the Germans attempted to seize the Vichy fleet, after the Wehrmacht had occupied the Zone libre in retaliation for the successful Allied landings in North Africa.

Strasbourg having been salvaged by the Italians and partly dismantled, was returned by the Germans to the Vichy authorities. On August 18, 1944, she was bombed and sunk by U.S. Air Force aircraft, as the Allied forces, having landed three days previously, advanced to liberate Toulon. Dunkerque was left in a very decrepit condition, and she and Strasbourg in her wrecked state, were scrapped post war.[41]

See also

Media related to Dunkerque class battleships at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. ^ Lenton 1968, pp. 26–29
  2. ^ Lenton 1968, pp. 30–32
  3. ^ Lenton 1972, pp. 43–45
  4. ^ Watts 1971, pp. 18–21
  5. ^ a b Watts 1971, p. 25
  6. ^ Breyer 1973, pp. 71–72
  7. ^ Breyer 1973, pp. 76–77
  8. ^ Archibald 1971, pp. 110–111
  9. ^ Lenton 1966, pp. 32–33
  10. ^ Breyer 1973, p. 74
  11. ^ Lenton 1973, pp. 3–18
  12. ^ Lenton 1972, pp. 10–22
  13. ^ Lenton 1972, pp. 23–28
  14. ^ Lenton 1972, pp. 37–41
  15. ^ Lenton 1972, pp. 46–50
  16. ^ Lenton 1972, pp. 29–36
  17. ^ Labayle Couhat 1974, pp. 37–38
  18. ^ Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, pp. 13–15
  19. ^ Breyer 1973, p. 286
  20. ^ Lenton 1966, p. 8
  21. ^ Breyer 1973, p. 287
  22. ^ a b Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, pp. 16–17
  23. ^ a b c d Breyer 1973, p. 433
  24. ^ Breyer 1973, p. 79
  25. ^ Giorgerini, Nani 1973, pp. 37–38
  26. ^ a b Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, p. 69
  27. ^ Le Masson 1969, p. 69
  28. ^ a b c Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, pp. 89–90
  29. ^ Dumas, Richelieu 2001, p. 73
  30. ^ a b Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, p. 22
  31. ^ Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, p. 90
  32. ^ a b c Breyer 1973, p. 435
  33. ^ Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, pp. 39–41
  34. ^ a b Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, p. 68
  35. ^ Dumas, Richelieu 2001, p. 50
  36. ^ Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, pp. 68–69
  37. ^ Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, p. 73
  38. ^ Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, p. 70
  39. ^ Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, pp. 70–72
  40. ^ a b Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, p. 74
  41. ^ Dumas, Dunkerque 2001, p. 75

Bibliography

  • Lenton, H. T. (1966). German surface vessels 1. London: Macdonald&Co Publishers Ltd. 
  • Amiral Lepotier (1967). Les derniers cuirassés. Paris: Editions France-Empire. 
  • Lenton, H.T. (1968). American battleships, carriers and cruisers. London: Macdonald&Co Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0-356-01511-8. 
  • Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy Volume 1. London: Macdonald&Co Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0356-02834-2. 
  • Watts, Anthony (1971). Japanese Warships of World War II. London: Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0-7110-2015-0. 
  • Archibald, E.H.H. (1971). The Metal Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy 1860-1970. London: Blandford Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7137-0551-5. 
  • Macyntire, Donald G.F.W.; Bathe, Basil W. (1971) (in fr). Les navires de combat à travers les âges. Paris: Stock. 
  • Lenton, H. T. (1972). British battleships and aircraft carriers. London: Macdonald&Co Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0-356-03869-8. 
  • Breyer, Siegfried (1973). Battleships and battle cruisers 1905–1970. London: Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 978-0-356-04191-9. 
  • Giorgerini, Giorgio; Nani, Antonio (1973) (in it). Le Navi di Linea Italiane 1861–1969. Roma: Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare. 
  • Lenton, H. T. (1973). British cruisers. London: Macdonald&Co Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0-356-03869-8. 
  • Labayle-Couhat, Jean (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7110-0445-0. 
  • Dumas, Robert (2001) (in fr). Les cuirassés Dunkerque et Strasbourg. Nantes: Marine Éditions. ISBN 978-2-909675-75-6. 
  • Dumas, Robert (2001) (in fr). Le cuirassé Richelieu 1935–1968. Nantes: Marine Éditions. ISBN 978-2-909675-75-6. 
  • John, Jordan; Robert, Dumas. French battleships 1922-1956. Seaforth Punblishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-034-5. 

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