Dunkerque class
DUNKERQUE
It was 20 years after the Bretagne class before France commissioned further battleships, leading to the Dunkerque being laid down in 1932. This ship was very different from anything that had come before and was heavily influenced by the Washington Naval Treaty and the other treaty battleships around the world. Like the British Nelson class, Dunkerque had all her armament facing forward in two massive turrets, each of which housed four 330mm (8in) guns. Her armour was designed to counter the German Deutschland’s 283mm guns and she had a top speed of 29.5 knots, far faster than the older designs of dreadnoughts that had previously served France. Dunkerque was launched in 1935 and entered service in 1937. With all her main armament facing forward, her fantail was an ideal launch point for aircraft so she had a catapult on her stern and carried two float planes to assist spotting for her guns and other general duties.
The outbreak of war saw Dunkerque serving in the Force de Raid alongside her sister ship Strasbourg, three light cruisers and eight destroyers. This force was based at Brest and was sent forth on the opening day of the war to counter any chance of a surprise naval attack from Germany’s Deutschland class pocket battleships.
The battleship was used on convoy work and joined HMS Hood in patrols to try to hunt down Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Patrolling off Iceland highlighted defects in the design of Dunkerque and she had to drop to 10 knots to avoid damage due to her limited freeboard and light construction. On 11 December 1939, like many other French battleships, Dunkerque carried part of France’s gold reserve to
Canada and escorted troop ships back again. In the Spring of 1940 Dunkerque moved to the port of Mers-el-Kébir and she was here when France surrendered.
When the British fired on the French fleet, Dunkerque was tied up facing the wrong way so could not bring her guns to bear. The crew quickly loosed the anchor and manoeuvred to try to fire on HMS Hood. Although Dunkerque fired off several salvos, none hit the target. Hood was more accurate and the French battleship was hit by four 15in shells. These shells damaged the ship’s rudder and the final shell destroyed one of her boilers and took out electrical power so her crew were forced to beach the ship to prevent her sinking. Most of the crew were evacuated and repairs began with the intention of allowing the ship to limp home to Toulon. On learning of this the British launched aircraft armed with torpedoes that caused further, extensive damage and the ship would have been lost by a hit to the magazine had her Captain not had the foresight to flood it at the first sign of British aircraft. After further emergency repairs the ship crawled back to Toulon for more permanent repairs.
When the Germans and Italians decided to seize the Vichy France ships, her crew opened the dock gates and tried to flood and sink the ship. By the time the Italians reached the battleship she was declared a complete loss and the Axis began to scrap her in situ but it was not until 1958 that the final remains of Dunkerque were sold for scrap.
STRASBOURG
The second ship of the Dunkerque class, Strasbourg was similar but not identical to her sister ship. It was decided to increase the armour thickness of the ship during construction and so she boasted an extra 58mm of armour on her belt and an extra 12mm of armour thickness on her decks. The combination of these increased her displacement by an extra 1,200 tons. Strasbourg was laid down in 1934 and launched two years later. She entered service with the French navy in 1938 and joined Dunkerque in April 1939 as the
1st Battle Squadron. Strasbourg received two identification tripes on her funnel in comparison to Dunkerque’s one to allow the two vessels to be quickly told apart. At the outbreak of war Strasbourg completed her duties in tandem with Dunkerque until October 1939 when she joined HMS Hermes and a pair of destroyers to patrol the central Atlantic. Although the patrol was mostly uneventful, Strasbourg did
Dunkerque
Class: Dunkerque
Displacement: 26,500 tonnes
Length: 214.5m (703ft 9in)
Beam: 31.08m (102ft)
Draft: 8.7m (28ft 6.5in)
Speed: 29.5 knots
Range: 14,537km (9,033 miles)
Crew: 1381-1431 men
Armament: 8 x 330mm guns • 16 x 130mm guns • 8 x 37mm AA guns • 32 x 13.2mm AA MGs Armour: Deck – 11.5cm (4.5in), Waterline belt – 22.5cm (8.86in)