Sharing pictures of the French fleet.

Hello Chaps,

I thought some of you would appreciate to see some pictures of the French fleet. There are already some threads open for the most famous vessels , such as the Dunkerque, the Surcouf etc. Others have been depicted in the sad events of Toulon, but here are also the ones that have been forgotten by history (except for a few history buffs) .
I will first share the pics with you and later describe the lifespan of some of these vessels. The advenures go from Narvik, the Battle of France, North Africa, Vichy France, The Free French , serving under allied banners and other fates, so enjoy!

 

Torpilleur la BAYONNAISE



The alcycon



the Algerie



the Submarine Aurore



the Aviso L'impetueuse

 

the Commandant



aircraftcarrier le Bearn



cruiser Duquesne



cruiser LA Motte Piquet



the Dunkerque

 

The Emile Bertin



The Gallissoniere

 

Bump!!! Shall I carry on or did my fleet sink without anybody noticing?

 

Skipper, please carry on...Do you plan to add some text for background with the photos?

 

Certainly , I have a few dozen other pictures to share and then I will try to make a summary of every single vessel. It could either be a short story or a link to an existing thread or story. This way we will all be able to visualise a part of the fleet in a nutshell

 

What ever happened to the aircraft carrier? Was it one of the ones interned in Vichy or did it get away?

 

Great pics, thanx Skipper!

 

The Bearn was on a ferrying mission picking up aircraft from the United States when the Armistice was signed with Germany. She sought refuge in Martinique and was interned there for the rest of the war. She was scrapped in 1967.

 

She served as an aircraft ferry after the Torch landings. She was given a refit in the US--I think they finally removed her torpedoe tubes (!)--and some 5in guns as a new main battery. I believe she was involved in a ramming that sank another ship in a convoy she was part of.

 

Torpedo tubes on a carrier, interesting.

 

More about the Bearn, but for those interested in this very one there is no use to google extensively , as there is already a thread about this ship on the forum . As I told earlier I want to focus on the smaller ships mainly here, not repeat what has been said before.

French aircraft carrier Béarn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Submarine LA CIRCHE



sUBMARINE LE TONNANT



Submarine Pallas



Cuirassier le Richelieu

 

Ok here is a first description, I picked the Battleship Richelieu which is one of my favourites



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_Richelieu_(1939)

The armistice between France and Germany prompted British anxiety that the French Navy would be taken over by the Axis Powers. This led to attacks by Swordfish torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes on 8 July 1940, after the attack on the French fleet at Mers el-Kebir. A torpedo hit below the armoured deck disabled the starboard propulsion shaft on Richelieu and flooding caused her stern to touch bottom.

On 24 September, Richelieu fought against Allied naval forces at the Battle of Dakar. There was a gunnery duel between Richelieu and the British battleship HMS Barham: the Barham was hit twice by secondary batteries and the Richelieu was struck by two 15” shells, causing no serious damage. The Richelieu was further damaged in the battle when a 380 mm shell blew back and disabled two guns in the number 2 main turret: this was traced to the use of the wrong type of propellant. The British force was beaten off.

Under allied service, she arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on 10 April 1944, in time to join the attack by Task Force 65 on Sabang on 19 April (Operation Cockpit) and on Surabaya in May 1944 (Operation Transom) and on Operations Councillor and Pedal in June. On 22 July, she sailed to attack Sabang and Sumatra (Operation Crimson) and returned to Trincomalee on the 27th.

this is a great model: Le cuirassé Richelieu

great galery of crew etc... Cuirassé Richelieu - Photo



The Richelieu after refit in the USA (1943)

 

that is one fine looking ship

 

The Americans thought it was worth restoring and refitting it in 1943 .
I like this one because it served both the allies and the Axis: France until the armistice , then Vichy France , fought the British ( at the Battle of Dakar, duel with HMS Barham) , then joined the free French and served the allies. Then it served in North Africa again after the war and served in Indochina

 

For now the Croiseur Duquesne : (see above for first picture)



600 men
Propulsion :
131800 cv 33.7 knots.Autonomy 3000 milles.
combat :
8 x 203 mm de 50 caliber 8 x 75 mm . 8 canons x 37mm A.A. 6 550mm TORPEDOS


commissionned 1929

revised in 1943

retired : 1949

 

Today the PALLAS (submarine) . A sad story and not much to say . It was simply left to rot at Oran , Algeria and destroyed in 1942 when no more suitable for combat... The reason why is that between 1940 and 1941 there were no spares available and it would have been too expensive to refit it under allied colors. As a result it has been forgotten by history.

Q 189

 

Submarine le Tonnant Summary:



LE TONNANT (Q172) Built in 1934. Served Vichy France up to 1942 , survived the battle of Cassablanca (combat with allies) , escaped crippled to Cadix (Spain) but could not go further and was sunk by its crew on November 15th 1942. I'm not certain, but I believe the crew was interned by the Spaniards . See picture at posting number 14. Any other pic of this sub would be welcome as I could not find any. Not to be confused with the Nuclear sub from the 1980s with the same name.