Alsace-class battleship
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Alsace class |
| Preceded by: | Richelieu class |
| Planned: | 4 |
| Completed: | 0 |
| Cancelled: | 2 |
| General characteristics (N1 design) | |
| Type: | Battleship |
| Displacement: | 40,000 long tons (Washington); 45,500 long tons (normal) |
| Length: | 252 m (827 ft) |
| Beam: | 35 m (115 ft) |
| Draught: | 9.22 m (30.2 ft) |
| Installed power: | 170,000 shp (130,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | geared steam turbines, 4 propellers |
| Speed: | 31 knots (57 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
6-8 |
| Complement: | Unknown 1,780-2,300 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 4 |
| Aviation facilities: | 1 X Catapult + 1 Floatplane's Crane |
The Alsace-class battleships were planned to succeed and enlarge the Richelieu class. The design planned for an improved Richelieu design with three triple or quadruple 380mm turrets (two fore, one aft). Six names were proposed, and two had to be chosen from this list: Alsace, Normandie, Flandre, Bourgogne; two more units were not given names. The laying down of the lead ship of the class, Alsace, was planned for 1941; with the Fall of France in 1940, none of the ships were built.
In 1936, the second London naval disarmament conference failure marked the end of the international naval armament limitation policy. Japan had withdrawn from the conference on January 15. Italy also declined to sign the treaty. A so-called "escalator clause" was included at the urging of American negotiators, allowing the signatory countries of the Second London Treaty—France, the United Kingdom and the United States—to raise the battleship main artillery caliber limit from 14 inches (356 mm) to 16 inches (406 mm), and the battleship Washington tonnage limit from 35,000 tons to 45,000 tons, if Japan or Italy still refused to sign after 1 April 1937. So, the United States adopted the 16-inch gun for their new fast battleship classes, the United Kingdom chose to respect the Second London Naval Treaty limitations for the King George V-class battleships, Germany was not concerned as she had not been invited to the second London naval disarmament conference, but officially, the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz did have 380 mm guns and 35,000 tons. So France decided to respect the limitation of 35,000 tons and 380mm, as long as no continental European power had overtaken them. It was with these considerations in mind that the new Chef d'Etat-major Général de la Marine, Admiral Darlan, was ordered, in late 1937, to study new designs for two more battleships, as Dunkerque trials were starting to confirm some critical issue with her design, especially her all forward quadruple turret main artillery, and her dual purpose (anti-aircraft and anti-ship) secondary artillery of relatively light caliber.
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Wikipedia