Richlieu class

2023-02-01 -

RICHLIEU

Richelieu, and her sister ship, the new Jean Bart (after the original was renamed), were the most powerful battleships ever constructed for the French Navy. The ship had been laid down as a response to the Italian Littorio class and were an up-armed and up-armoured version of the preceding Dunkerque class. In place of the Dunkerques’ 330mm guns, the Richelieu had eight 380mm guns in two forward facing quadruple turrets. Equally her armour was increased in thickness with a 13in main belt and 6.7in of deck armour. Laid down in 1935 and launched in early 1939, the outbreak of war saw Richelieu’s hull completed but she was still not a complete serviceable vessel so the French Navy put every effort into getting the ship into shape. Richelieu underwent testing and was finally declared ready for service just a few days before the Germans invaded France. To keep the pride of the French Navy from falling into German hands, Richelieu was sailed to Dakar and out of the arms of the enemy.

Once France had surrendered, the Captain of the Richelieu was given orders that he was to scuttle the ship or escape to the then-neutral United States rather than let the ship fall into Axis hands. The British launched an action against the French fleet in Dakar a day after they had attacked the French port of Mers-el-Kébir. During the attack, Richelieu was hit by torpedoes from Swordfish aircraft which tore a large hole between her propellor shafts and caused major flooding, resulting in the ship grounding on the harbour floor at low tide.

Emergency repairs were begun on the ship, with the hope of pumping out the flooded compartments and allowing her to be refloated fully.

The British returned to finish the job of sinking Richelieu in September 1940. In a scrappy battle with the British battleship HMS Barham, Richelieu found herself suffering damage. Two remanufactured shells exploded in her guns, destroying No. 7 gun and damaging No. 8 gun. Richelieu’s secondary armament did manage to score a minor hit on Barham. After the British fleet had withdrawn, a further explosion in No. 6 gun occurred whilst removing a dud shell. The ship immediately resumed repairs. Following the German invasion of southern France, the French fleet defected to the Free French and Richelieu was refitted in the United States. She returned to European waters to aid in operations against the Tirpitz. Richelieu was not used for operations in Normandy due to a lack of HE shells and instead was sent to join the British Eastern Fleet. She served out the rest of the war in the Pacific and fired her guns against Sabang where she destroyed several buildings and damaged a power station. In April and May 1945 Richelieu bombarded Japanese airfields in the Nicobar and Andaman Islands.

After the war, Richelieu was heavily involved in France’s wars in Indochina before being used as a gunnery training ship. She was laid up in 1956 and used as a floating barracks until she was sold for scrap in 1968.