French battleship Dunkerque

The "Dunkerque" was the first of a new class of warship of the French Navy labeled as a "fast battleship".

Not as well-armed and considerably less armoured than contemporary battleships, they are nonetheless considered scaled-down battleships and they are considerably more balanced than battlecruisers. The "Dunkerque"s were superior in all respects to and designed to counter the threat of the German pocket battleships of the "Deutschland" class, which were in effect scaled-up cruisers.

The design was very innovative, having the entire main armament mounted forward in two quadruple turrets which gave unrestricted forward fire. The Royal Navy's "Nelson" class battleships also had the entire armament mounted forward, but in three turrets carrying nine guns, with the angles of fire for the rearmost turret limited by the turrets in front. The mounting of the main armament in quadruple turrets was a feature unique to late-design French battleships such as "Dunkerque", "Richelieu" and ""Jean Bart".

During the Phoney War, "Dunkerque" was used along with her sister-ship "Strasbourg" to escort convoys.

After the collapse of France, she was docked in Mers-El-Kebir, along with "Strasbourg". The sinking of these ships became one of the main objectives of the British attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir on 3 July 1940. "Dunkerque" was severely damaged by gunfire during this attack, settling on the bottom of the harbour. Two days later, she sustained further damage by torpedo-bombers from the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal".

After being refloated and temporary repairs completed, "Dunkerque" returned to Toulon in February 1942. She was in armistice custody, disarmed and in drydock, when the Germans invaded the so-called "Free Zone" on 27 November 1942. She was scuttled, along with "Strasbourg", in the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon. Her commanding officer, Capitaine de vaisseau Amiel, initially refused to sink his ship without written orders, but was finally convinced to do so by the captain of the nearby light cruiser "La Galissonnière". Demolition charges were ignited, destroying the ship and setting the wreckage ablaze.

External links

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/france/battleships/dunkerque/dunkerque.htm Maritimequest Dunkerque Photo Gallery]
* [http://www.warship.get.net.pl/Francja/Battleships/1937_Dunkerque_class/_Dunkerque_history.html "DUNKERQUE" Operational History]