Richelieu-class battleship

Richelieu in September 1943, after refit, with the upper fire-control system on the fore tower removed, and many AA short-range guns added
Class overview
Name:	Richelieu class
Builders:	Brest Navy Yard (Richelieu and Clemenceau) and shipbuilding yards (Jean Bart)
Operators:	French Navy
Preceded by:	Dunkerque class
Succeeded by:	Alsace class (planned)
Subclasses:	Gascogne
Built:	1935–1955
In service:	1940–1967
Planned:	4
Completed:	2
Cancelled:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Battleship
Displacement:	35,000 tons standard as designed 48,950 tonnes (48,180 long tons) full load (Jean Bart post war)
Length:	247.85 m (813.2 ft)
Beam:	33 m (108 ft)
Draft:	9.63 m (31.6 ft)
Installed power:	112 MW (150,000 hp) steam using fuel oil
Propulsion:	6 Sural (pressure-fired) boilers 4 Parsons geared turbines 4 4-bladed propellers
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range:	6,950 nautical miles (12,870 km; 8,000 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) 2,350 nautical miles (4,350 km; 2,700 mi) at 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Complement:	1,464 + 86 as flagship (planned) 911 men in 1950 (incomplete) 1,280 men during the Suez affair.
Armament:	8 × 380 mm (15.0 in)/45 Modèle 1935 guns in quadruple turrets at the bow 9 × 152 mm (6.0 in) in 3 triple DP Modèle 1936 turrets Richelieu in 1940–1942: 12 × 100 mm (3.94 in) in 6 CAD Modèle 1931 mountings 16 × 37 mm (1.5 in) in 8 CAD Modèle 1933 mountings 28 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) Hotchkiss (5 CAQ, 2 CAD, 4 CAS) Modèle 1929 Richelieu in 1943: 12 × 100 mm (3.94 in) in 6 CAD Modèle 1931 mountings 56 × 40 mm (1.6 in) in 14 CAQ Bofors mountings 50 × 20 mm (0.79 in) CAS Oerlikon mountings Jean Bart in 1955: 24 × 100 mm (3.94 in) in 12 CAD Modèle 1946 28 × 57 mm (2.2 in) in 14 ACAD Bofors Modèle 1948
Armor:	Belt: 330 mm (13.0 in) Upper armored deck: 150 mm (5.9 in) Lower armored deck: 40 mm (1.6 in) Main turrets: 140–430 mm (5.5–17 in) Conning tower: 260 mm (10.2 in)
Aircraft carried:	4/5 seaplanes planned 3 installed on Richelieu in 1941-42
Aviation facilities:	Aircraft hangar, crane, and 2 catapults before 1943

The Richelieu-class battleships were the last and largest battleships of the French Navy. They left service in the 1960s. They remain the largest French-built warships. They were designed in the 1930s to counter the threat of the Italian Vittorio Veneto-class battleships. Richelieu-class ships were essentially scaled-up versions of the preceding Dunkerque class. They featured a main battery of eight 380 mm (15.0 in) guns in two quadruple turrets in forward superfiring positions.

Four Richelieu-class ships, of three different subclasses, were designed over the course of three construction programs, in 1935, 1936, and 1938. Only three were laid down. Only the first two, Richelieu and Jean Bart, were completed. They saw service during World War II, first under Vichy control in Dakar (1940) and Casablanca (1942), then under Allied control. Richelieu participated in British Home Fleet and Eastern Fleet operations and supported French forces' return to Indochina in late 1945. Jean Bart was not completed until the 1950s and took part in the operations off Port Said (Egypt) during the Suez Crisis in 1956. Richelieu was scrapped in 1968 and Jean Bart in 1970.

In 1922, the Washington Naval Conference, concluded by the Washington Naval Treaty, limited any battleship construction for the following ten years. It attempted to end a burgeoning naval arms race among the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Japan. The Treaty fixed limits for new battleships of 35,000-long-ton (35,562 t) standard displacement and 406 mm (16.0 in) for the main battery's artillery caliber. France and Italy each were allowed (after 1927) to replace two old battleships.