French Battleship Dunkerque

Laid down on 24 December 1932, launched on 2 October 1935 and commissioned on 1 May 1937, Dunkerque was the first French battleship completed since the First World War. Although initial design was concentrated on countering Italian cruisers, the German Deutschland-class heavy cruisers became a larger threat. The Dunkerque-class battleships armour was designed to withstand the 11-inch guns of the Deutschlands while having guns large enough to overpower them.

In the early stages of World War Two Dunkerque participated in searches for German commerce raiders and undertook convoy escort duty. At the time of the French surrender, Dunkerque was in Mers El Kabir. The British, fearing that the French Fleet may fall under German control, sent an ultimatum that the French ships either join Britain; sail to the French West Indies; disarm themselves or make for a neutral port and be interned. When the ultimatum expired, the British ships open fire. In the resulting naval and air bombardment, Bretagne was sunk, with Provence and Dunkerque damaged.

In the initial attack Dunkerque was hit by four 15-inch shells from HMS Hood. These caused a loss of power and major damage to the main armament. She was beached to prevent her from being sunk. On the following morning, an attack by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers sank the patrol boat Terre-Neuve moored along side. A detonation of the depth charges on board caused severe damage to Dunkerque’s bow.

Subsequent repair work allowed Dunkerque to sail to Toulon for extensive repairs. She was scuttled in November 1942 when the Germans occupied all of Southern France. Raised, she was being scrapped by the Italians until September 1943 when Italy surrendered. Germany then seized the wreck and continued the scrapping process. Post war, Dunkerque’s remains were finally scrapped in 1958.

Class and type	Dunkerque-class battleship
Displacement	26,500 t (26,100 long tons) (standard) 35,500 t (34,900 long tons) (deep load)
Length	214.5 m (704 ft)
Beam	31.08 m (102.0 ft)
Draft	8.7 m (29 ft)
Installed power	107,500 shp (80,200 kW) (designed) 135,585 shp (101,106 kW) (maximum) 6 Indret boilers
Propulsion	4 Shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed	29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph) (designed) 31.06 knots (57.52 km/h; 35.74 mph) (max)
Range	7,850 nmi (14,540 km; 9,030 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) 2,450 nmi (4,540 km; 2,820 mi) at 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph)
Crew	1,381–1,431
Armament	8 × 330 mm (13.0 in) guns 16 × 130 mm (5.1 in) DP guns 8 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns 32 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA machineguns
Armor	Belt armor: 225 mm (8.9 in) Main deck: 115 mm (4.5 in) Gun turrets: 330 mm (13 in) Conning tower: 270 mm (11 in)
Aircraft carried	2 floatplanes