French battleship Bretagne

The Bretagne under fire at Mers-el-Kebir
History
France
Namesake	Region of Bretagne
Laid down	1 July 1912
Launched	21 April 1913
Commissioned	September 1915
Fate	Sunk by gunfire from HMS Hood, HMS Valiant and Resolution on 3 July 1940
General characteristics
Class and type	Bretagne class battleship
Displacement	23,230 tons (standard) 26,180 tons (full load)
Length	166 m
Beam	26.9 m
Draught	9.8 m
Propulsion	4 shaft Parsons turbines, 18-24 boilers, 29,000 hp
Speed	20 knots
Range	4700 nm at 10 knots, 2680 tons coal and 300 tons oil
Complement	1133
Armament	10 × 340mm/45 Modèle 1912 guns in twin mounts 4 × 47 mm guns 4 × 450 mm torpedo tubes Before 1935 22 × 138mm/55 Modèle 1910 guns After 1935 14 × 138mm/55 Modèle 1910 guns 8 × 75mm/50 Modèle 1922 guns
Armour	Belt 270 mm three decks 40 mm each Casemates 170 mm 340 mm turrets 314 mm conning tower

The Bretagne was a battleship of the French Navy, and the lead ship of her class. She was named in honour of the French region of Bretagne, and was built by Arsenal de Brest.

Construction

Her keel was laid down on 1 July 1912, and she was launched on 21 April 1913. She was completed in September 1915 and carried a main armament of ten of the new 340 mm main guns mounted two per turret; two centerline superfiring forward, two centerline superfiring aft and one amidships centerline turret that could fire to both sides. These 340 mm main guns had come from the cancelled Normandie-class battleships.

The Bretagne was converted to partial oil firing over the years in 1921 to 1925, and further reconstructed from 1932 to 1934. While her new boilers gave 43,000 hp, this came with only a meager increase in speed to 21 knots.

Service

Serving in the Mediterranean during both World Wars, the Bretagne sailed to Mers-el-Kebir after the Fall of France in 1940. The British had feared that the powerful French fleet would fall into Nazi hands, and were resolved to prevent this. Thus, after an ultimatum to surrender from the British battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Resolution and battlecruiser HMS Hood was refused, the Bretagne was blown up and sunk by naval gunfire from these three ships at Mers-el-Kebir on 3 July 1940, with the loss of 977 French sailors.

Salvaged in 1952, she was scrapped thereafter.

References

• Anthony Preston, An Illustrated History of the Navies of World War II (Bison Books Ltd., London, 1976) ISBN 0-600-36569-7
• French battleship Bretagne: Ships of Brawling Battleships Steel (HTML) Accessed 11 August 2007.

See also

• French ship Bretagne for other ships of the same name
• List of shipwrecks in 1940

External links

• Profile drawing of the battleship Bretagne (HTML)