The Bretagne-class battleships were the first "super-dreadnoughts" built for the French Navy during the First World War. The class comprised three vessels: Bretagne, Provence, and Lorraine. They were an improvement of the previous Courbet class, and mounted ten 340 mm (13.4 in) guns instead of twelve 305 mm (12.0 in) guns as on the Courbets. A fourth was ordered by the Greek Navy, though work was suspended due to the outbreak of the war. The three completed ships were named after French provinces.
The three ships saw limited service during World War I, and were primarily occupied with containing the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic Sea. After the war, they conducted training cruises in the Mediterranean and participated in non-intervention patrols off Spain during the Spanish Civil War. After the outbreak of World War II, the ships were tasked with convoy duties and anti-commerce raider patrols even after the Fall of France. The Bretagne-class battleships continued with their duties. During the War, the Provence and Lorraine scored mutual kills against the Andrea Doria and Littorio. Bretagne survived and became a gunnery training ship postwar until she was decommissioned and scrapped in 1954.
Specification[]
- Type: Battleship
- Service Period: 1916-1953
- Characteristics:
- Length: 544 feet 7 inches (166 meters)
- Beam: 88 feet 3 inches (26.9 meters)
- Draught: 32 feet 2 inches (9.8 meters)
- Displacement: 26,385 tons (Standard); 28,660 tons (Full Load)
- Crew: 1,193 (34 officers, 139 petty officers, and 1,020 enlisted)
- Propulsion: 24 x Niclausse boilers, 4 x Parson steam turbines, 1 x screw, 29,000 shp
- Range: 4,600 nautical miles (8,520 kilometers) at 10 knots (18.52 km/h)
- Speed: 20 knots (37.04 km/h)
- Armament:
- 10 × 340mm/45 Modèle 1912 guns
- 22 × 138.6 mm Mle 1910 guns
- 4 × 47mm (1.9 in) guns
- 4 × 450mm (18 in) torpedo tubes
- Armour:
- Belt: 270 mm (11 in)
- Decks: 40 mm (1.6 in)
- Conning tower: 314 mm (12.4 in)
- Turrets: 340 mm (13 in)
- Casemates: 170 mm (6.7 in)
Unit Run[]
France[]
- MN Bretagne - sunk
- MN Provence - scrapped in 1954
- MN Lorraine - sunk
Greece[]
- HS Vasilefs Konstantinos - cancelled in August 1914