French cruiser Montcalm
Montcalm in 1943
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Montcalm |
| Namesake: | Louis-Joseph de Montcalm |
| Operator: | French Navy |
| Builder: | Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (La Seyne-sur-Mer, France) |
| Laid down: | 15 November 1933 |
| Launched: | 26 October 1935 |
| Commissioned: | 15 November 1937 |
| Decommissioned: | 1 May 1957 |
| Renamed: | Q457 31 December 1969 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1970 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | La Galissonnière-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 7,600 tons (standard) 9120 tons (full load) |
| Length: | 179 m (587 ft) |
| Beam: | 17.5 m (57 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.35 m (17.6 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft Parsons single reduction geared turbines 4 Indret boilers 84,000 shp (63,000 kW) |
| Speed: | 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph) |
| Range: | 7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) 6,800 nmi (12,600 km; 7,800 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) 5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) 1,650 nmi (3,060 km; 1,900 mi) at 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) |
| Complement: | 540 |
| Armament: | 9 × 155 mm (6.1 in)/55 guns (3 × 3) 8 × 90 mm (3.5 inch) anti-aircraft (4 × 2) 24 × 40 millimetre (6 × 4) 4 × 550mm (21.7 inch) torpedo tubes (2 × 2) |
| Armour: | main belt: 105 mm (4.1 in) end bulkheads: 30 mm (1.2 in) sides: 120 mm (4.7 in) deck: 38 mm (1.5 in) turrets: 100 mm (3.9 in) tower: 95 mm (3.7 in) |
| Aircraft carried: | up to 4 GL-832, later 2 Loire 130 flying boats 1 catapult |
Montcalm was a French La Galissonnière-class cruiser, named in honour of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm. During World War II, she served with both Vichy France and the Allies. It was commissioned in 1937, decommissioned in 1957, and finally scrapped in 1970.
After commissioning and trials, Montcalm was assigned to the 4th Cruiser Division at Brest. Pre-war activities included being stationed in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), French Indochina for two months from January 1938. Once back in France and part of the French Atlantic Fleet, her peacetime routine included a review for King George VI at Calais in July 1938 and she represented France at the New York World's Fair, in 1939.
At the start of the war, now assigned to the 2nd Squadron of the Force de Raid, she performed Atlantic patrols and convoy escort duties and swept for the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau after they had sunk the British Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Rawalpindi. In early September, 1939, there was a major French fleet deployment to Casablanca to forestall an enemy naval attack, which was soon abandoned.
After a major refit in April 1940, Montcalm served as flagship of the French Scandinavian Force supporting the Franco-British defence of Norway (replacing the damaged French cruiser Emile Bertin) and the evacuation of troops from Namsos, Norway, with HMS Devonshire, at the end of April 1940.
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