Courbet class battleship

Jean Bart in 1914
Class overview
Name:	Courbet class
Operators:	French Navy Free French Navy
Preceded by:	Danton-class
Succeeded by:	Bretagne-class
Built:	1910–1914
In service:	1913–1945
Completed:	4
Lost:	1
Scrapped:	3
General characteristics
Type:	Dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	23,475 tonnes (23,104 long tons) (standard) 25,579 tonnes (25,175 long tons) (full load)
Length:	166 m (544 ft 7 in)
Beam:	27 m (88 ft 7 in)
Draught:	9.04 m (29 ft 8 in) at normal load
Installed power:	28,000 ihp (21,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4-shaft Parsons steam turbines 24 boilers
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) (trials)
Endurance:	4,200 nmi (7,780 km; 4,830 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	1,115–1,187
Armament:	12 × 305 mm Mle 1910 guns (six twin turrets) 22 × 138 mm Mle 1910 guns (all single turrets 4 × 47-millimetre (1.9 in) guns (all single mounts) 4 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt: 180–270 mm (7.1–10.6 in) Deck: 30–70 mm (1.2–2.8 in) Conning Tower: 300 mm (11.8 in) Turrets: 250–290 mm (9.8–11.4 in) Barbettes: 280 mm (11.0 in)

The Courbet class battleships were the first dreadnoughts built for the French Navy before World War I. The class comprised four ships: Courbet, France, Jean Bart, and Paris. All four ships were deployed to the Mediterranean Sea for the entirety of World War I, spending most of their time escorting French troop convoys from North Africa and covering the Otranto Barrage. An Anglo-French fleet led by Courbet succeeded in sinking the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser Zenta in the Battle of Antivari. Jean Bart was torpedoed in the bow by U-12 on 21 December 1914, but she was able to steam to Malta for repairs.

France sank after striking a rock in Quiberon Bay in 1922. Between the wars the surviving ships were modernised several times, but they were not rebuilt thoroughly enough to prevent them from becoming obsolete in comparison to modern German or Italian battleships. They were relegated to training duties during the 1930s. Courbet and Paris escaped to Portsmouth where they became depot and accommodation ships after the French armistice in 1940. Jean Bart was demilitarised, renamed Océan, and became a school hulk in Toulon. She was captured there on 27 November 1942, although she was not scuttled. She was used for experiments with large shaped charge warheads by the Germans until she was sunk by the Allies in 1944, later broken up in place in 1945. Courbet was scuttled on 9 June 1944 as a breakwater for a Mulberry harbour used during the Battle of Normandy.

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Wikipedia