''Richelieu'' was a French
fast battleship
A fast battleship was a battleship which emphasised speed without – in concept – undue compromise of either armor or armament. Most of the early World War I-era dreadnought battleships were typically built with low design speeds, s ...
, the
lead ship
The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels.
Large ships are very complex and may ...
of the . Built as a response to the Italian , the ''Richelieu''s were based on their immediate predecessors of the with the same unconventional arrangement that grouped their
main battery
A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...
forward in two quadruple
gun turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...
s. They were scaled up to accommodate a much more powerful
main battery
A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...
of eight
guns (compared to the guns of the ''Dunkerque''s), with increased armor to protect them from guns of the same caliber. ''Richelieu'' was
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
in 1935 and was
launched in 1939, just before the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in Europe. As war with
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
became increasingly likely, work on the ship was rushed to prepare her for
commissioning in April 1940.
Completed just days before the Germans won the
Battle of France in June, ''Richelieu'' fled to
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...
in
French West Africa to keep her under French control. There, she came under repeated British attacks that had been intended to either compel the battleship to join the
Free French Naval Forces
The Free French Naval Forces (french: Forces Navales Françaises Libres, or FNFL) were the naval arm of the Free French Forces during the Second World War. They were commanded by Admiral Émile Muselier.
History
In the wake of the Armistice a ...
or sink her; these included during
Operation Catapult
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
in July 1940 and the
Battle of Dakar
The Battle of Dakar, also known as Operation Menace, was an unsuccessful attempt in September 1940 by the Allies to capture the strategic port of Dakar in French West Africa (modern-day Senegal). It was hoped that the success of the operation cou ...
in September. Damaged in both attacks, the ship was slowly repaired before eventually being turned over to Free French control after the
Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942. After being sent to the United States for repairs and an extensive modernization, the ship served with the British
Home Fleet in early 1944 before being deployed to the
Eastern Fleet
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
* Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
* Eastern Air ...
for operations against the Japanese in the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
. These included several bombardment operations and in May 1945 she was present during the
Battle of the Malacca Strait
The Battle of the Malacca Strait, sometimes called the Sinking of ''Haguro'', and in Japanese sources as the Battle off Penang (ペナン沖海戦), was a naval battle that resulted from the British search-and-destroy operation in May 1945, calle ...
, though she was too far away to engage the Japanese ships before they were sunk.
''Richelieu'' was part of the force that liberated
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
after the
Japanese surrender
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...
in September, and she later operated in
French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
as part of the initial effort to restore French colonial rule. Recalled to France in December 1945, she was repaired and modernized slightly in 1946. The ship saw relatively limited training in the immediate postwar years and, in 1952, she was removed from active service for use as a gunnery
training ship
A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...
. In 1956, she was placed in
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
and was thereafter used as a stationary training vessel and
barracks ship
A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for s ...
until 1967, when the French Navy decided to discard her. She was sold for
scrap in 1968, and
broken up
Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sold for re-use, ...
in Italy from 1968 to 1969.
Design
![Richelieu-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Richelieu-1.jpg)
When in 1934
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
announced that it would begin building two s armed with guns, the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
immediately began preparations to counter them. The small s that had been ordered provided the template for the next French battleship design, but it needed to be scaled up to match the new Italian vessels, both in terms of offensive and defensive characteristics. The design staff considered 380 and guns, but the latter could not be incorporated in a design that remained within the limit imposed by the
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...
and was quickly discarded. The ''Dunkerque''s carried their armament in two quadruple
gun turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...
s arrayed in a
superfiring pair forward of the
superstructure, and the designers experimented with other arrangements, including combinations of triple and twin turrets, but the need to minimize the length of the armor belt (and thus its weight) necessitated the ''Dunkerque'' layout.
''Richelieu'' displaced
standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
and
fully loaded, with an
overall length
The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...
of , a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a maximum
draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
of . She was powered by four
Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...
geared
steam turbines
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
and six oil-fired Sural
water-tube boiler
A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gen ...
s, which developed a total of and yielded a maximum speed of . At a cruising speed of , the ship could steam for . Her crew numbered 1,569 officers and men. The ship carried four
Loire 130
The Loire 130 was a French flying boat that saw service during World War II. It was designed and built by Loire Aviation of St Nazaire.
Development
The Loire 130 originated from a mid-1930s requirement from the French Navy for a reconnaissance s ...
seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...
s on the
quarterdeck, and the aircraft facilities consisted of a steam
catapult and a crane to handle the floatplanes.
She was armed with eight
380 mm/45 Modèle (Mle) 1935 guns arranged in two quadruple gun turrets, both of which were placed in a superfiring pair forward of the superstructure. Her secondary armament consisted of nine
/55 Mle 1930 guns mounted in three triple turrets, arranged on the rear superstructure. Heavy
anti-aircraft (AA) defense consisted of twelve /45 Mle 1930 anti-aircraft guns in twin turrets. Close range anti-aircraft defense was provided by a battery of eight
guns in twin mounts and twenty
machine guns in four quadruple and two twin mounts. The ship's
belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers.
The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating to ...
was thick amidships, and the main battery turrets were protected by of armor plate on the faces. The main armored deck was thick, and the
conning tower had thick sides.
Service
Construction
The contract for ''Richelieu'' was awarded to the
Arsenal de Brest
The Brest Arsenal (French - ''arsenal de Brest'') is a collection of naval and military buildings located on the banks of the river Penfeld, in Brest, France. It is located at .
Timeline
*1631-1635 Beginning of the foundations of the port infr ...
on 31 August 1935, and the
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
for the new ship was
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
on 22 October in the No. 4 dock that had recently built . The
slipway
A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...
was not long enough to accommodate the entire length of the new battleship, and so the
hull had to be built in pieces. The main section of the hull, which amounted to , was built on the slipway, while a length of the
bow and an length of her
stern were built elsewhere and attached after the rest of the ship was
launched on 17 January 1939. The French decision to lay down ''Richelieu'' in 1935 put the country in violation of the Washington Treaty, which was to expire on 31 December 1936, as the combined tonnage of the two ''Dunkerque''s and ''Richelieu'' exceeded the that had been allotted to France during the moratorium on new battleship construction. France used the
Anglo-German Naval Agreement
The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA) of 18 June 1935 was a naval agreement between the United Kingdom and Germany regulating the size of the '' Kriegsmarine'' in relation to the Royal Navy.
The Anglo-German Naval Agreement fixed a ratio whe ...
, which Britain had unilaterally signed with
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in June 1935 to dismiss British objections to the new ship, though they nevertheless slowed construction of ''Richelieu'' to ease British concerns. Work was also slowed by
strikes in the shipyards for better pay and working conditions.
By the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in September 1939, the hull had been assembled; the start of the war led the naval command to decide to slow work on other, less complete vessels to focus efforts on ''Richelieu'' and her
sister ship . The ship began initial testing on 15 October while still
fitting-out
Fitting out, or outfitting, is the process in shipbuilding that follows the float-out/launching of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her o ...
in an effort to rush the ship into service; the same day, the ship's first commander,
''Capitaine de vaisseau'' (''CV''—Ship-of-the-line captain) Marzin came aboard. Engine testing began on 14 January 1940, and a week later her main battery was completed when the last barrel was installed. Further engine testing was carried out between 31 March and 7 April; during this period, she was
commissioned on 1 April. Formal
acceptance trials began on 14 April. Repair work was conducted in
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
* Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
* Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
** Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Br ...
from 19 to 27 May, and fire control equipment for the main and secondary batteries were installed. ''Richelieu'' conducted full-power trials on 13 June, reaching from , exceeding her design performance. Test firings of the guns were conducted on 13 and 14 June. Work on the ship was completed on 15 June 1940, days before France surrendered to Germany after the
Battle of France.
World War II
Under Vichy control: 1940–1942
With German troops advancing across France by mid-June, the Navy decided to evacuate ''Richelieu'' to
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...
in
French West Africa; while earlier plans had been to send the fleet to British ports to continue the war, when the possibility of a negotiated armistice arose, the government decided that the fleet would be a useful bargaining chip. As a result, vessels should be preserved under French control, away from German occupation. At 06:45, the ship took on a load of ammunition and fuel, though she received only 198 quarter charges of propellant for her main battery, which amounted to powder sufficient for 49 shots. Material that had not yet been installed was also hastily loaded onto the ship, to be fitted once ''Richelieu'' reached the safety of Dakar. She also took aboard gold reserves from the
Bank of France and 250 cadets from the ''
École Navale
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
'' (Naval Academy). There was insufficient time to allow the full complement to assemble and board the ship, and at 04:00 the next morning, ''Richelieu'' got underway while German troops approached Brest. ''Richelieu'' steamed in company with the
destroyers and while German aircraft made several ineffective attacks against the ships. The battleship's anti-aircraft guns returned fire without success. Initially cruising at a speed of , boiler trouble forced the ships to decrease speed to . The motors for her
rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...
also repeatedly broke down on the voyage, though the crew was able to repair them. While cruising off
Casablanca,
French Morocco at 17:00 on 20 June, the torpedo boats were detached to refuel, their place being taken by the new destroyer . The two vessels then proceeded on to Dakar, where they arrived at 17:44 on 23 June.
![Richelieu-2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Richelieu-2.jpg)
On arriving in Dakar, an uneasy situation confronted ''Richelieu'' while armistice negotiations were still underway. The commander of French naval forces in the region, ''
Contre-amiral'' (''CA''—Rear Admiral) Plançon and the
governor-general of French West Africa,
Léon Cayla, were inclined to remain in the war against Germany. Also, significant British naval units were in the area, including the
aircraft carrier moored in Dakar and the British South Atlantic Squadron, which was nearby. At the same time, ''Richelieu'' had used half of her fuel to escape Brest, and she could perform little sustained firing of her main or secondary guns. Admiral
François Darlan
Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan (7 August 1881 – 24 December 1942) was a French admiral and political figure. Born in Nérac, Darlan graduated from the ''École navale'' in 1902 and quickly advanced through the ranks following his service ...
, the
Chief of Staff of the French Navy
The Chief of the Naval Staff (French: Chef d’état-major de la Marine, acronym: CEMM) is a French general officer, adviser to the Chief of the Defence Staff for the French Navy and responsible to the Minister of the Armed Forces for preparing ...
, sent a telegraph on the night of 23–24 June to warn Marzin that the British might attack the vessel to neutralize it in the event of a French surrender, and ordered him to begin preparations to
scuttle the ship if the need arose. Meanwhile, on 23 June, the British heavy cruiser departed
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...
to observe ''Richelieu''s activities in Dakar.
On 25 June, Marzin received word that the French government had signed the
Armistice with Germany
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
. Darlan instructed him that the ship was to remain under French control, and if that proved to be impossible, he was to scuttle the ship or attempt to escape to the then-neutral United States. Marzin decided that, given the threat of British warships in the area, the best course of action was to try to escape to Casablanca and join the French fleet there, and so at 14:30 ''Richelieu'' got underway in company with ''Fleuret''. ''Hermes'' raised anchor as well and began to follow ''Richelieu'' with her
Fairey Swordfish
The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also us ...
torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...
s on her
flight deck
The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopte ...
, but the coastal artillery trained their guns on the ship, convincing ''Hermes'' commander to return to port. ''Dorsetshire'' nevertheless shadowed ''Richelieu'' while she was at sea. The next morning, Darlan, who feared that Marzin was trying to defect to the
Free French forces
__NOTOC__
The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...
, ordered him to return to Dakar. Marzin complied and turned the ships back to port, but while on the way, he received amended orders instructing him to wait some north of
Cape Verde to escort the 1st Division of Armed Merchant Cruisers to Dakar, as they were carrying another load of gold reserves from the Bank of France. ''Richelieu'' failed to make contact at the prescribed rendezvous point, and since she had not embarked any of her floatplanes before fleeing Brest, she could not conduct an aerial search. Marzin instead returned to Dakar on 28 June; the convoy arrived, having been significantly delayed, on 4 July.
After returning to port, work began to prepare the ship for action as quickly as possible. Marzin ordered that a stockpile of 330 mm propellant charges that had been stocked for the battleship before France's surrender to be converted into charges that were usable by ''Richelieu''. The secondary guns were readied for action ten days later, but they lacked a director capable of tracking aerial targets, so they could be used against surface ships only. Under the terms of the armistice, ''Richelieu'' was to be returned to Toulon, where she would be demobilized, though the Germans later decided against permitting the move, as they feared the British would try to seize the ship during the passage through the
Strait of Gibraltar; the British, meanwhile, were under the mistaken impression that the Germans sought to seize the French fleet for their own use. This led to
Operation Catapult
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
, a series of attacks on French warships to neutralize vessels that would not defect to the Free French.
=British attack on 8 July 1940 and repairs
=
![HMS Hermes June 1940](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/HMS_Hermes_June_1940.jpg)
The component of Catapult that targeted ''Richelieu'' consisted of the carrier ''Hermes'', which joined the cruisers and ''Dorsetshire'' off Dakar. On 4 July, the day after the British had
attacked Mers-el-Kébir, Plançon ordered the
submarines and to attack ''Dorsetshire'' while it cruised off the port. He also instructed the coastal batteries to open fire if she closed to within , though ''Dorsetshire'' remained at a distance. Marzin moved ''Richelieu'' to a position near the island of
Gorée
(; "Gorée Island"; Wolof: Beer Dun) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an island located at sea from the main harbour of Dakar (), famous as a destination for people interested in the Atlantic slave trad ...
, pointed south so that the ship's main battery could aim at any vessels that approached Dakar. The British had intended to send
Force H to Dakar after the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, but the need to return to destroy ''Dunkerque'' forced the British to resort to ''Hermes''; on 7 July, the
sloop was sent to contact Plançon and issue the ultimatum to either surrender his ship to British control or be sunk.
Marzin prepared his ship to sortie the next morning; he intended to use the eight rounds loaded in his main guns to attack ''Hermes''. Other forces in Dakar were put on alert and ''Le Héros'' again sortied to assist in the attack. While the French preparations were ongoing, the British sent a motorboat from ''Milford'' to drop four
depth charges under ''Richelieu''s stern to disable her screws, though this attempt failed. At 04:15, a group of Swordfish launched from ''Hermes'' as ''Richelieu'' was about to get underway. One of their torpedoes struck the ship aft on the
starboard side and tore a hole that was between the propeller shafts. The resulting shock disabled many of the ship's systems. Two of her fire control directors were knocked off their tracks, the starboard propeller shafts were bent, and the blast caused significant flooding. Damage control teams pumped fuel out of the bunkers to counteract the loss of buoyancy aft and the ship was towed into port for repairs.
Anti-torpedo net
Torpedo nets were a passive ship defensive device against torpedoes. They were in common use from the 1890s until the Second World War. They were superseded by the anti-torpedo bulge and torpedo belts.
Origins
With the introduction of the Whitehe ...
s were set up around the vessel, which had taken on some of water and at low tide rested on the harbor bottom.
Later that afternoon,
tankers
Tanker may refer to:
Transportation
* Tanker, a tank crewman (US)
* Tanker (ship), a ship designed to carry bulk liquids
** Chemical tanker, a type of tanker designed to transport chemicals in bulk
** Oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tank ...
came alongside and began pumping oil out of the ship's bunkers to reduce her draft, but water continued to leak into the hull through the cable tunnels. Pumps attached to the ship helped to control the flooding, but the hoses repeatedly pulled loose as ''Richelieu'' rose and fell with the waves. To further complicate the effort to repair the ship, Dakar lacked a dry dock sufficient to accommodate ''Richelieu''; the battleship could not simply be drained and plated over. Instead, damaged
bulkheads had to be patched and pumped out individually; by 28 August, some of water remained aboard the ship. Heavy use of the pumps caused frequent breakdowns, which further slowed work. In his report on the attack and subsequent repairs, Marzin criticized faulty design and construction practices that hindered damage control efforts, including insufficient pumping equipment, poor quality control for the welding of bulkheads, and a failure to ensure that critical components like the turret trunks were watertight.
While work to control and reverse the flooding was ongoing, other repairs were necessary to return the ship to operational status. The fire-control directors needed to be re-seated in their tracks, wiring that had been damaged by flooding or leaking fuel oil had to be replaced, and several of the electrical generators, which had been badly shaken by the blast, needed to be rebuilt. Given the limited ability to repair the damage to the ship, Marzin focused efforts on ensuring that the main and secondary batteries could be effectively used, even if the ship could only be employed as a static
floating battery
A floating battery is a kind of armed watercraft, often improvised or experimental, which carries heavy armament but has few other qualities as a warship.
History
Use of timber rafts loaded with cannon by Danish defenders of Copenhagen a ...
against an expected second attack from British forces. ''
Amiral'' (Admiral)
Jean de Laborde
Jean de Laborde (29 November 1878 – 30 July 1977) was a French admiral who had a long career starting at the end of the 19th century and extending to World War II after which he was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. A pioneer of Fren ...
flew to Dakar to conduct an inspection and help to organize the defenses. As part of these preparations, both Plançon and Cayla, who were suspected of being pro-British, were removed from their posts, with Plançon's place taken by ''CA'' Platon and then ''CA'' Landriau.
Workers in the local shipyard scavenged metal from other ships in the harbor to fabricate an square patch to cover the torpedo hole, which was planned to be installed by 10 September. This would allow the rear
magazines
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...
for the 152 mm and 37 mm guns to be drained. At the same time, the shipyard began building a steel
cofferdam
A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...
around the ship that was to have been completed by late October, which would allow the rest of the hull to be pumped dry. With the hull pumped out, permanent repairs were to have been completed by January 1941. While this work was being carried out, the crew cleaned and painted the ship and continued to work on readying the armament. A total of 150 complete charges for the main battery were created by remanufacturing the stockpile intended for ''Strasbourg''. Parts of the crew were dispersed for other tasks: 106 were sent to man the armed merchant cruisers in the harbor, whose reservist crews had to be demobilized, and the 64-man crew of the forward gun turret were sent to man the coastal battery at
Cap Manuel. After another 132 reservists from ''Richelieu'' were demobilized, a total of 1,039 officers and men were left aboard the ship. The 100-, 37-, and 13.2 mm guns were kept manned continuously given the threat of further British air attacks.
=Battle of Dakar
=
![HMS Barham FL1472](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/HMS_Barham_FL1472.jpg)
While repairs were being carried out in August, the British began preparations for another attack, code-named Operation Menace. British
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
sought to use a contingent of Free French forces led by
Charles de Gaulle to invade the colony and seize the ship for use against Germany. By late August, a
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
had been assembled with five ships carrying weapons and supplies got underway, later rendezvousing with a second convoy of six
troop ship
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
s carrying some 2,400 Free French soldiers and 4,270 British soldiers. The naval support force consisted of the aircraft carrier and the battleships and , along with four cruisers and numerous other warships. The plan called for de Gaulle to use his French forces to attempt to secure the colony, only calling on British support if the Vichy forces resisted him. At the same time, several French colonies in Africa defected to Free France, prompting the Vichy government to secure authorization from the
German Armistice Commission
The German Armistice Commission (german: Waffenstillstandskommission, WAKO) was a military body charged with supervising the implementation of the Franco-German Armistice, signed on 22 June 1940, in German-occupied France during World War II.Uni ...
to send several
light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...
s and destroyers to reinforce their holdings in Africa, designated Force Y. Owing to the risk of encountering British vessels on the passage, the destroyers were temporarily left in Casablanca while the three cruisers, carrying supplies and additional men to crew the coastal batteries, raced south at high speed. They reached Dakar on 14 September, and after disembarking the men and supplies, continued on south to
French Equatorial Africa
French Equatorial Africa (french: link=no, Afrique-Équatoriale française), or the AEF, was the federation of French colonial possessions in Equatorial Africa, extending northwards from the Congo River into the Sahel, and comprising what are ...
(in what is now present-day Gabon).
The British believed that the arrival of Force Y indicated that the French were aware of Operation Menace, but de Gaulle decided to proceed with the attack regardless. While Force Y steamed south, two of the three cruisers were intercepted by British cruisers and forced to fall back to Dakar, arriving there again on 20 September, by which time the destroyers had arrived. On 22 September, the liner was due to arrive with a load of 380 mm shells, and as a result, French search aircraft were arrayed to the north to cover the liner's approach; they were completely surprised by the arrival of the Anglo-Free French force on the morning of 23 September. A small party of Free French troops sent to rally the port to de Gaulle was repulsed with machine-gun fire and ''Richelieu''s 100 mm guns fired warning shots toward the Free French
aviso
An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication.
The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an ...
shortly after 07:00. On the approach of the sloops and at 08:10, ''Richelieu'' again fired warning shots from her 100 mm guns. The British warships approached the port and came under fire from the coastal batteries, leading the Anglo-Free French commanders, de Gaulle and Vice Admiral
John Cunningham to conclude that they would have to directly attack the port if the operation was to succeed.
''Barham'' and ''Resolution'' opened fire on ''Richelieu'' at 11:05, but poor visibility hampered the British shooting and they checked fire after twenty minutes, having inflicted only splinter damage to the cruiser and the destroyer . The French coastal batteries hit several of the cruisers and destroyers, but ''Richelieu'' was moored facing north, which prevented her from taking part in the initial duel. After the British withdrew, Marzin used
tugboat
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...
s to turn the ship far enough to enable her to bring her main battery to bear. The defenses of Dakar were now alerted. The Free French then attempted to land further east at
Rufisque, but were repulsed. The British and Free French withdrew to regroup for another attack the next day. Between 06:25 and 08:00 on 24 September, the British launched three strikes with Swordfish and
Blackburn Skua
The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single- radial engine aircraft by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft. It was the first Royal Navy carrier-borne all-metal cantilever monoplane aircraft, as well as t ...
bombers. They scored no hits on ''Richelieu'' because of poor visibility, and near-misses caused no damage. In return, ''Richelieu''s gunners claimed three of the six aircraft that were shot down, and damaged another. Ninety minutes later, the British battleships and two
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...
s approached and fired their 380 mm main batteries at ''Richelieu''.
''Richelieu'' returned fire at 09:40, but her No. 7 gun was destroyed by a shell that detonated in the barrel and the No. 8 gun was also badly damaged. This was first traced to the use of the remanufactured propellant from ''Strasbourg'', but a later inquiry in 1941 found the explosions were caused by a flaw in the design of the shell base. Guns 5 and 6 remained in action but failed to score any hits. At 09:57, one of ''Richelieu''s secondary guns hit ''Barham''. In return, the British ships inflicted only minor splinter damage before breaking off at 10:07. The French had counted some 160 shells landing near the ship. The French laid smoke screens to obscure ''Richelieu'' before the British returned to the action at 12:53, initially targeting a destroyer before bombarding the port for the next 30 minutes. ''Richelieu'' was not hit and, from 12:56, she fired guns 5 and 6 at the British cruisers, quickly straddling one of them and convincing them to disengage. She fired four 380 mm shells at ''Barham'' at 13:11–13:12 but failed to score a hit, though both British battleships were hit several times by coastal batteries. After disengaging for the day, de Gaulle decided to abandon the operation, but Cunningham convinced him to allow a final attempt the next morning. In the meantime, Marzin decided to transfer the crews from turret 2 to turret 1, which also required moving the shells and propellant between magazines.
As the British approached on the morning of 25 September, Marzin decided to engage ''Barham'' with his main battery and ''Resolution'' with his 152 mm guns. While the British were approaching their bombardment positions, ''Richelieu'' shot down a reconnaissance plane shortly before 07:00. She opened fire at 09:04 with her main battery, firing two shots that fell short, and the coastal guns and Force Y cruisers followed suit shortly thereafter. While the British battleships were turning to unmask their rear guns, the submarine torpedoed and badly damaged ''Resolution''. ''Barham'' avoided the torpedoes and opened fire, quickly straddling ''Richelieu'' and at 09:15, she scored a hit
amidships
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th ...
that penetrated above the side armor, causing no casualties. In return, ''Richelieu'' hit ''Barham'' in the bow, causing minor damage. At 09:25, the British disengaged to cover ''Resolution''s withdrawal. After the British left, the gun crew attempted to clear the shells that had been loaded in guns 5 and 6 and the shell in No. 5 also exploded, leaving No. 6 the only operable gun in the turret. In total, French warships in the harbor lost 100 dead and 182 wounded, with another 84 killed and 197 wounded among the civilian population.
From 29 September, the
battlecruiser and escorting destroyers were detached from Force H to patrol off Dakar, as the British believed ''Richelieu'' would be transferred to
metropolitan France
Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...
for repairs. The British ships remained in the area until 1 October when it became clear the ship would not be moved.
=Repairs and defection to Free France
=
![Richelieu-3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Richelieu-3.jpg)
Repair work resumed immediately. The hit from ''Barham'' did little serious damage to the ship, but it nevertheless caused extensive deformation of interior bulkheads, the armor deck was forced down where the shell hit it, and the uptakes from the boilers were damaged. Wiring in the area was also cut by fragments and needed to be replaced. On 10 October, the workers attempted to attach the patch that had been manufactured, but it did not work; it did not create a watertight seal, which meant the compartments could not be pumped out. The patch was abandoned in the hopes that the cofferdam, then nearing completion, would work. The cofferdam was modeled to conform to the hull and was built with an interior void that could be used as a
ballast tank so it could be floated in position and sunk in place. The cofferdam was ready by late December, which allowed the hull to be pumped dry and then sealed with welded plates and cement; the hull was finally sealed by 28 February 1941. Further repairs were hampered by the German Armistice Commission, which attempted to slow progress to prevent the ship from returning to full operational status. They blocked the shipment of new guns or a new propeller shaft, and severely constrained the transfer of other equipment. During this period, on 27 February, ''CV'' Deramond replaced Marzin as the ship's commander.
As repairs were carried out, the ship saw little activity through late 1942 apart from engaging unidentified aircraft on 28 July and 29 September 1941 and 26 February and 12 May 1942. During this period, in April 1941, the ship received the first
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
set installed on a French battleship. And in July, her Loire seaplanes finally arrived; tests with the catapults were conducted in October. On 10 April 1942, the ship conducted a test firing with gun No. 6 to demonstrate that the shell design problem had been corrected; all six shells were fired without incident. On 8 November, American and British forces landed in French North Africa (code-named
Operation Torch), which prompted the Germans to invade the rest of Vichy France, which in turn led Darlan to defect to the Allies with the rest of the fleet.
The
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
sent a group to evaluate the ships under Darlan's control to determine which should be modernized in the United States. The only French battleship still in service, ''Richelieu'' was an obvious candidate. The US Navy had not initially been interested in repairing ''Richelieu''; while the Germans and Italians retained a number of powerful battleships, the United States had recently commissioned or would soon complete eight fast battleships, more than sufficient to cover US requirements for the
Pacific War and to send to Europe to reinforce the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
. In addition, repairing and modernizing a ship the size of ''Richelieu'' would require significant resources that could be used for other purposes. But pressure from Britain and the Free French convinced the Navy to agree to the project. For France, she was the only surviving modern battleship and thus a major symbol of national prestige, while the British had long sought to acquire the vessel to stiffen the
Mediterranean Fleet, which at that time had just two new battleships to oppose their three Italian counterparts.
She ran sea trials from 25 to 29 January 1943 to evaluate the state of her engines, which had not been used since July 1940. Her aircraft facilities and anti-aircraft armament were removed during the evaluation period, as they would be replaced by US equipment. On 30 January, she departed Dakar with ''Montcalm'', bound for
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, where both vessels would be modernized. ''Richelieu'' steamed at a speed of and her rudder had to be held to seven degrees to account for the hull deformation. The ships arrived on 11 February and on the 18th, ''Richelieu'' was taken into Dock No. 5 at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
to begin the modernization.
Free-French career: 1943–1945
=Refit in New York City
=
Political tensions between the United States and France played a major role in determining how much ''Richelieu'' would be modernized. The US Navy refused to transfer the latest radar equipment on the basis that it was too sensitive to be released. As a result, much of the improvement was limited to the installation of a new anti-aircraft battery of the latest US weapons and auxiliary equipment in addition to a thorough overhaul and permanent repairs to the torpedo damage. Three shifts of workers, totaling some 2,000 men, worked on the ship twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for five months to rush the ship back into service. The modifications to the ship increased her displacement by about . While the ship was being modernized, ''CV'' Lambert replaced Deramont as the ship's commander on 29 April.
![Richelieu Ney York](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Richelieu_Ney_York.jpg)
The ship's armament required extensive repairs and modifications to bring ''Richelieu'' up to modern standards. First, three of the eight main battery guns had to be replaced, which required removing the turret roof. Since the gun cradles were undamaged, the guns were simply replaced by barrels taken from ''Jean Bart'', which had been recovered at Casablanca during Operation Torch. The shell handling equipment of both the primary and secondary guns was thoroughly overhauled, with wiring being replaced and the shell and propellant lifts being rebuilt—the latter had never been made to function correctly while the ship was in Dakar. Ammunition for the primary and secondary guns was now a problem, as the source, factories in France, was occupied by German forces. Drawings of the plans for the 380 mm shells were prepared in Dakar and forwarded to the United States, where a contract to produce 930 shells was ordered from
Crucible Steel
Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron (cast iron), iron, and sometimes steel, often along with sand, glass, ashes, and other fluxes, in a crucible. In ancient times steel and iron were impossible to melt using charcoal or coal fires ...
. American 6-inch/47 Mk 16 shells were used as a starting point to supply the 152 mm guns, as they were the same caliber and required relatively minor modifications for use in the French weapons.
Her 100 mm guns were retained, but her light anti-aircraft battery now consisted of fifty-six
Bofors guns in quadruple mounts, all placed with their own Mk 51 gun director. These were arranged with two abreast the superfiring turret, two on either side of the forward tower, another two per side of the aft tower, and the remaining four on the
quarterdeck, where the aircraft catapults had been. These guns were supplemented with fifty
Oerlikon cannons, all in individual or twin mounts. Nine were placed on the
forecastle
The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
aft of the
breakwater
Breakwater may refer to:
* Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour
Places
* Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia
* Breakwater Island
Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...
, four were mounted on the superfiring turret, nine were placed on the former aircraft hangar, with the rest dispersed around the superstructure, including on the towers and the shelter deck.
''Richelieu''s tower foremast was heavily reconfigured; the upper main battery director, which had never been operational and had been removed to allow the ship to clear the
Brooklyn Bridge, was left off. In its place, the
radome
A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and conceal antenna e ...
for the SF surface search radar was installed, along with the mattress antenna for the SA-2
air search radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...
; these were short-range sets that had been designed for small craft, the SA-2 intended for
PT boat
A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the war ...
s. Most of the command spaces in the tower were converted for other uses. The fire control systems for the main battery had to be replaced and those for the secondary guns were repaired with new wiring and telephones. The ship's original
Anschütz
Anschütz is a German surname, which may also appear as Anschutz, without the umlaut. It may refer to:
People Entertainment
* Heinrich Anschütz (1785–1865), German actor
* Karl Anschütz ( 1814 – 1870), German-born musical director in New ...
gyrocompass
A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical direction automatically. The use of a gyroc ...
es were replaced with
Sperry models. The ship's propulsion system was thoroughly overhauled: the turbines were thoroughly repaired and the boilers were re-tubed. Much of the wiring throughout the ship was replaced, and a
degaussing
Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. It is named after the gauss, a unit of magnetism, which in turn was named after Carl Friedrich Gauss. Due to magnetic hysteresis, it is generally not possible to red ...
cable was installed.
To repair the hull, the concrete was broken up and removed, the sections that had been most badly damaged by the torpedo were stripped of all fittings, and deformed bulkheads and plating were cut out. After more than two and a half years without being dry-docked in a tropical port, the hull needed maintenance beyond simply repairing the torpedo damage, though given the conditions to which it had been subjected, it was in fairly good condition. It was sandblasted and those sections of plating that exhibited pitting had new plates welded over the top. The starboard propeller shafts also required repairs: the mounting brackets were straightened, but the inboard shaft was too badly damaged and had to be replaced.
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...
fabricated a replacement that was installed in June. The bottom row of
porthole
A porthole, sometimes called bull's-eye window or bull's-eye, is a generally circular window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehicle ...
s were closed off, as the increase in displacement pushed them closer to the waterline.
Beginning in late August and continuing into mid-September, ''Richelieu'' began firing trials in the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
; firing the main battery forward on 29 August revealed the need for a blast screen to protect the forecastle 20 mm guns, as the test accidentally destroyed two of the guns and their ammunition lockers. With her normal displacement now at and her hull slightly bowed (possibly caused by the torpedo hit), ''Richelieu'' began machinery trials in late September. On 25 September, the ship reached her new top speed of , cruising at that speed for thirty minutes, despite the deformation of her hull and the significant increase in displacement. The following day, she steamed for six hours at , for two hours at , and finally for fifty minutes at .
As completed, the ship's displacement had grown to normally and fully loaded; draft correspondingly increased to and , respectively. Compared to her original wartime crew of 1,569 officers and men, ''Richelieu'' was now to be manned by a total of 1,930, amounting to 86 officers, 287
petty officer
A petty officer (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotation OR-5 or OR-6. In many nations, they are typically equal to a sergeant in comparison to other military branches. Often they may be super ...
s, and 1,557 men. The major increase in complement was largely the result of the additional anti-aircraft guns and radar systems. The ship conducted further trials into October, and on the 14th the ship was finally ready to get underway for European waters.
=In European waters
=
![The Royal Navy during the Second World War A20935-colourised](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/The_Royal_Navy_during_the_Second_World_War_A20935-colourised.jpg)
Escorted by the destroyers and , ''Richelieu'' departed the US on 14 October, nominally bound for
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
. The destroyers departed while underway, allowing ''Richelieu'' to keep up a speed of in heavy seas. The ship stopped in the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
, Portugal, where she met the French destroyers and and the British destroyer , which was limited to a speed of ; ''Active'' quickly left the group, which proceeded not to Gibraltar, but to
Mers El Kébir
Mers El Kébir ( ar, المرسى الكبير, translit=al-Marsā al-Kabīr, lit=The Great Harbor ) is a port on the Mediterranean Sea, near Oran in Oran Province, northwest Algeria. It is famous for the attack on the French fleet in 1940, in t ...
. There, she replenished supplies; it had been intended to deploy the ship with the Mediterranean Fleet, but Italy had surrendered in September, removing the threat posed by the Italian ''Littorio''-class battleships. ''Richelieu'' was instead sent north to join the
Home Fleet, which included the four surviving s. When ''Richelieu'' departed the Mediterranean, Cunningham, now the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, recommended to the Admiralty that she be fitted with gunnery radars. The ship was escorted by the destroyers and , and on arrival in
Scapa Flow, Admiral
Bruce Fraser, the Home Fleet commander, inspected the battleship on 24 November. Work began immediately on installing a Type 284 gunnery radar while the ship began an intensive period of training to acclimate the ship's crew to operating with British units.
The ship saw little activity over the winter of 1943–1944 until February 1944, when she took part in
Operation Posthorn. ''Richelieu'', the battleship , and the carrier departed Scapa Flow on 10 February for a raid on German shipping off occupied Norway. The objective was to lure the German heavy cruisers in the area so that the two battleships could destroy them. The carrier aircraft achieved little, sinking a single
freighter of 3,000 tons and damaging a
repair ship
A repair ship is a naval auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to warships. Repair ships provide similar services to destroyer, submarine and seaplane tenders or depot ships, but may offer a broader range of repair capability incl ...
while trading one of the
Supermarine Seafire fighters
Fighter(s) or The Fighter(s) may refer to:
Combat and warfare
* Combatant, an individual legally entitled to engage in hostilities during an international armed conflict
* Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplan ...
for a German
Bf 109 fighter. The fleet returned to port on the 12th, and ''Richelieu'' thereafter went to
Rosyth
Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440.
The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...
for ten days to rest the crew. A repeat sweep was to have taken place at the end of the month, but two of the escorting destroyers collided while leaving Scapa Flow, leading to a postponement that became permanent as a result of bad weather. In March, the Allies determined that five battleships to counter the battleship (which had been damaged in September 1943) was excessive. As a result, ''Richelieu'' was detached for other operations. The Allied command initially considered employing her to support the
invasion of Normandy, but as she was only supplied with
armor-piercing shells, she was instead sent to reinforce the British
Eastern Fleet
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
* Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
* Eastern Air ...
, along with a group of
escort aircraft carrier
The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft ...
s.
The ship accordingly steamed to
Greenock to take on fuel and ammunition, before cruising south to the Mediterranean with an escort of three British destroyers. She stopped in
Algiers on 26 March to take on additional supplies; there, she was visited by General
Henri Giraud
Henri Honoré Giraud (18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French general and a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944.
Born to an Alsatian family in Paris, Giraud graduated from ...
and Admiral
André Lemonnier André-Georges Lemonnier (born 23 February 1896 in Guingamp; died 30 May 1963 at La Glacerie) was a French admiral.
Biography
He joined in 1913, during the First World War, and served on patrol boats and submarines. In 1929 he attended the School ...
. ''Richelieu'' thereafter departed for the
Suez Canal, steaming at a speed of ; while underway, she began to experience significant boiler problems. The boiler blowers were not providing sufficient oxygen, so the boilers were not fully burning the fuel. As a result, the boiler tubes quickly became fouled and caused overheating. ''Richelieu'' stopped in
Aden for repairs to the boiler tubes, but the problem was not corrected.
=First deployment with the British Eastern Fleet
=
![Renown-9](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Renown-9.jpg)
On entering the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
, ''Richelieu'' picked up an escort consisting of the destroyers , , and . The four ships arrived in
Trincomalee
Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
,
Ceylon on 10 April, where they joined an Allied fleet that included the carriers and , the battleships and , and numerous cruisers and destroyers, commanded by Admiral
James Somerville
Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville, (17 July 1882 – 19 March 1949) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War as fleet wireless officer for the Mediterranean Fleet where he was involved in providing naval suppo ...
. On 16 April, the Eastern Fleet got underway for
Operation Cockpit
Operation Cockpit was an Allied attack against the Japanese-held island of Sabang on 19 April 1944. It was conducted by aircraft flying from British and American aircraft carriers and targeted Japanese shipping and airfields. A small number of ...
, a diversionary raid to distract the Japanese while American forces
landed at Hollandia in
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
. Somerville divided his fleet into two squadrons; ''Richelieu'' served in Force 69, the main element, with ''Queen Elizabeth'' and ''Valiant'', while ''Renown'' operated with the two carriers. The plan for Operation Cockpit called for carrier strikes on the port of
Sabang,
Netherlands East Indies. The fleet arrived in position early on 19 April, and after the carrier aircraft struck the port, Japanese bombers counter-attacked and ''Richelieu'' engaged the aircraft with her 100 mm and 40 mm batteries.
The next major operation conducted by the Eastern Fleet,
Operation Transom
Operation Transom was an attack by Allied forces against the Japanese-occupied city of Surabaya on the Indonesian island of Java during World War II. Conducted by the British-led Eastern Fleet, the operation took place on 17 May 1944 and invol ...
, was timed to coincide with American operations in the Central Pacific to keep the attention of the Japanese fleet based in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
focused away from the American fleet. For this operation, the target was the major base at
Surabaya, which also had significant oil refinery facilities. The Eastern Fleet got underway on 7 May and stopped to refuel on 15 May before arriving two days later. The strike proceeded uneventfully for ''Richelieu'' and on 18 May the American contingent detached to rejoin the main American fleet in the Pacific while the Eastern Fleet returned to Trincomalee, arriving on 27 May. Two days later, ''Richelieu'', ''Queen Elizabeth'', and six destroyers steamed to
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
to rest their crews. While there, ''Richelieu'' was visited by Admiral
Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander of the
South-East Asia Theatre. On 31 May, ''CV'' Merveilleux du Vignaux replaced Marzin as the ship's commander.
Somerville planned another raid for mid-June:
Operation Pedal, a carrier attack on the harbor of
Port Blair
Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South An ...
in the
Andaman Islands. The purpose of the attack was to again distract the Japanese fleet units in Singapore while American forces embarked on
Operation Forager
The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Operation Forager, was an offensive launched by United States forces against Imperial Japanese forces in the Mariana Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean between June and November 1944 du ...
, the invasion of the
Marianas Islands
The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...
. For the Anglo-French operation, Somerville took only the fast ships, including ''Richelieu'', ''Renown'', and ''Illustrious'' with their accompanying cruiser and destroyer screens. These ships, designated Force 60, sortied on 19 June and two days later, ''Illustrious'' aircraft struck Japanese targets in the port. The ships arrived back in Trincomalee on 23 June.
Operation Crimson
Operation Crimson was a British-led naval operation in World War II, the objective being simultaneous naval bombardment and aerial strikes on Japanese airfields in the Indonesian cities of Sabang, Lhoknga and Kutaraja,Patrick Boniface, HMS ...
followed in July, and given the lack of a response from the Japanese fleet to the earlier raids, Somerville decided to use his battleships and battlecruiser to bombard Sabang and
Sumatra. ''Richelieu'' and the other ships conducted shooting practice on 7, 14–15, and 17 July in preparation for the raid. The plan called for ''Richelieu'', ''Valiant'', ''Queen Elizabeth'', and ''Renown'', supported by cruisers, to shell the port at longer range while the Dutch cruiser led a group of destroyers in a close-range attack. ''Illustrious'', joined by the carrier , which had recently arrived, provided air cover to the fleet.
![Richelieu from Saratoga May 1944](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Richelieu_from_Saratoga_May_1944.jpg)
The Eastern Fleet departed on 22 July and reached the target on the morning of 25 July; the carriers launched their
combat air patrol
Combat air patrol (CAP) is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft. A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, ...
s and the surface combatants steamed to approach their targets. ''Richelieu'' was the last vessel in the line, astern of ''Renown''. ''Queen Elizabeth'', the leading battleship, opened fire at 06:54 at a range of . The other ships quickly followed suit and
F4U Corsair
The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts ...
fighters circled overhead to spot for the ships' guns. ''Richelieu'' fired four-gun salvos, with two guns per turret, and she scored hits with the second salvo, demolishing several buildings and damaging the
power station
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many ...
. Her secondary turrets neutralized a Japanese coastal artillery battery that had been engaging ''Tromp''. At 07:15, the ships ceased firing, and in the brief bombardment, ''Richelieu'' had fired 81 main battery APC shells—this amounted to a
rate of fire of a salvo every 50 seconds, nearly twice as fast as the British ships. Japanese aircraft attacked the fleet as it withdrew, but they were kept at bay by the carriers' fighters and heavy anti-aircraft fire from the ships. The fleet arrived back in Trincomalee on 27 July.
By this time, ''Richelieu'' was beginning to suffer from reduced speed, the result of continued boiler trouble and
biofouling
Biofouling or biological fouling is the accumulation of microorganisms, plants, algae, or small animals where it is not wanted on surfaces such as ship and submarine hulls, devices such as water inlets, pipework, grates, ponds, and rivers that ...
of her hull. Admiral
Laurence E. Power, who had replaced Somerville as the fleet commander, detached ''Richelieu'' for a refit. The British had initially offered the floating dry-dock ''AFD-23'', but Merveilleux du Vignaux believed that the dry-dock would not be able to accommodate a vessel the size of his ship (he proved to be correct when on 8 August, ''AFD-23''
capsize
Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...
d with ''Valiant'' aboard). ''Richelieu'' left on 6 September, bound for Algiers with three escorting destroyers. ''Le Terrible'' and ''Le Fantasque'' took over escort duties after ''Richelieu'' passed through the Suez Canal, and on 23 September the three ships arrived in Algiers. ''Richelieu'' then steamed north to Toulon on 1 October where she was visited again by Lemonnier, but the shipyard there was in ruins, so she moved to Casablanca on 10 October to be refitted. In addition to the hull cleaning and boiler repairs, she had new fire control and search radars installed, including a US SG-1 search radar, British Type-281B air search radar, and Type-285P fire control radars, in addition to other equipment, including an FV1
jammer
Jammer may refer to:
Signal blocking devices
* Radar jammer, a device used in radar jamming and deception
* Radio jammer, a device used in radio jamming
* Radio-controlled Improvised Explosive Device jammer, a counter-IED device
* Mobile phon ...
and
high-frequency direction finding
High-frequency direction finding, usually known by its abbreviation HF/DF or nickname huff-duff, is a type of radio direction finder (RDF) introduced in World War II. High frequency (HF) refers to a radio band that can effectively communicate over ...
gear.
=Second deployment with the British Eastern Fleet
=
![The Royal Navy during the Second World War A23486](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/The_Royal_Navy_during_the_Second_World_War_A23486.jpg)
On 23 January 1945, ''Richelieu'' left Casablanca for Gibraltar, arriving there two days later to have her hull cleaned and repainted. The French sought to deploy an independent task force consisting of ''Richelieu'', the four light cruisers still in service, and four destroyers, with a view toward reestablishing French control in
Indochina
Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
. But the United States opposed the move and refused to allocate the aircraft carriers and support ships that would have been necessary for another independent fleet, and so ''Richelieu'' could only be sent, alone, back to the Eastern Fleet. The ship conducted trials in February that revealed the problem with her boilers had finally been corrected and she thereafter got underway for Trincomalee, arriving on 20 March. By this time, the modern elements of the Eastern Fleet had been detached to form the
British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. The fleet was composed of empire naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944 from the remaining ships o ...
, with the Eastern Fleet being renamed the East Indies Fleet. This unit, still under Power's command, consisted of ''Queen Elizabeth'' and ''Renown'', nine cruisers, ten
escort carriers, and twenty destroyers. Japanese naval strength at Singapore had also significantly decreased to just four heavy cruisers and several destroyers.
For the next few weeks, ''Richelieu'' was occupied with shooting drills with her primary and secondary batteries and tests for the anti-aircraft radars and command systems. Now assigned to Force 63 of the East Indies Fleet, ''Richelieu'' sortied on 8 April to take part in
Operation Sunfish, another bombardment of Sabang while aircraft scouted possible landing beaches near the city of
Padang
Padang () is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. With a Census population of 1,015,000 as of 2022, it is the 16th most populous city in Indonesia and the most populous city on the west coast of Sumatra. Th ...
on the coast of Sumatra. The ships allocated for the operation consisted of ''Richelieu'', ''Queen Elizabeth'', two heavy cruisers, two escort carriers, and five destroyers. Early on 11 April, the two battleships, one of the cruisers, and three destroyers bombarded the island while the other vessels conducted the reconnaissance operation. ''Richelieu'' fired seven salvos with her main battery and used her secondary guns to once again silence the coastal battery on the island. Japanese aircraft launched a poorly-coordinated attack on the battleships but they failed to score any hits. After further carrier operations around Padang, the fleet returned to port on 20 April.
The next major operation followed a week later. Operation Bishop, a strike against Japanese airfields in the
Nicobar and
Andaman Islands, was to cover British Army landings at
Rangoon in Burma. The plan called for the East Indies Fleet to be divided into multiple groups, each with escorting cruisers and destroyers: four of the escort carriers were to directly support the landings, ''Richelieu'' and ''Queen Elizabeth'' each formed independent surface action groups, and another pair of escort carriers provided air protection for the surface groups. The fleet got underway on 27 April and reached
Car Nicobar
Car Nicobar ( in Car language) is the northernmost of the Nicobar Islands. It is also one of three local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Nicobar, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Annual ra ...
two days later. ''Richelieu'' bombarded the airfields at a range of , firing a total of 80 main and 45 secondary shells. She incurred minor damage to her bow 20 mm guns from the blast effects of firing the main battery nearly directly forward. The fleet then proceeded to the Andamans, and at 17:30, ''Richelieu'' opened fire at Port Blair; poor visibility hampered her shooting, and she ceased fire at 18:07, by now having expended the main battery ammunition that had been allotted for the bombardment. She nevertheless returned on 2 May to shell the harbor with her secondary guns, firing 120 rounds and inflicting significant damage to the harbor facilities. The fleet steamed north to Rangoon to support the landings, but it was discovered that the Japanese had already withdrawn, allowing the fleet to return to Trincomalee on 8 May.
![The Royal Navy during the Second World War A23483 cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/The_Royal_Navy_during_the_Second_World_War_A23483_cropped.jpg)
A decrypted Japanese radio signal revealed that the cruiser and the destroyer were to steam from Singapore to Port Blair to evacuate the garrison there on the night of 12–13 May while another transport vessel would pick up the troops at Car Nicobar. On 9 May, a pair of British submarines spotted ''Haguro'' as it passed through the
Malacca Strait
The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...
, so the East Indies Fleet launched
Operation Dukedom
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
to intercept the Japanese ships. ''Richelieu'' steamed with the heavy cruiser as Group 3 of Force 61. Aware that Allied ships were at sea, ''Haguro'' and ''Kamikaze'' turned back, though they were spotted by aircraft from the escort carriers and then sunk by destroyers of the
26th Destroyer Flotilla before ''Richelieu'' and ''Cumberland'' could arrive. Japanese aircraft attacked the fleet as it withdrew back to Trincomalee but were, once again, poorly coordinated and they failed to damage the ships. ''Richelieu'' arrived in port on 18 May.
On arrival, the ship took on additional ammunition and fuel, and over the coming weeks, she underwent repairs to her boilers and took part in shooting practice. The bombardments carried out earlier in the year had revealed excessive dispersion of the main battery shells, particularly if both guns on one side of the turret were fired at the same time. The crew at that time was unable to determine the cause of the problem, though tests with the remanufactured ''Strasbourg'' charges reduced the problem. On 3 June, the destroyer arrived with spare equipment for ''Richelieu'', which was sent to
Durban
Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
for another refit. Her hull again needed to be scraped and her boilers required a re-tubing. The ship had to stop in
Diego Suarez Diego Suarez or ''Diego-Suarez'' may refer to:
* Antsiranana, a city in Madagascar formerly known as Diego-Suarez
* Diego Suarez (navigator) or Diogo Soares, 16th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer
* Diego Suárez (soldier) (1552–1623), Sp ...
on the way to disembark non-white crewmen at the request of the racist government of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
; though this caused resentment among the crew, the French nevertheless complied. ''Richelieu'' arrived on 18 July and work lasted from 31 July to 10 August. Thirteen of the ship's 20 mm guns were replaced with four 40 mm guns, as the lighter weapons had proved to be ineffective against
kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending t ...
s. The ship conducted training and trials of South Africa before departing for Diego Suarez, ultimately arriving back in Trincomalee on 18 August, by which time
Japan had surrendered.
Postwar era
Immediately after the surrender of Japan, French and British forces began their attempts to reassert control in their Japanese-occupied colonies. On 7 September, ''Richelieu'' got underway in company with the British battleship to take part in
Operation Zipper, the amphibious landing on Sumatra. Two days later, ''Richelieu'' detonated a magnetic mine, though she suffered only minor damage; the force of the blast pushed in some hull plates by and inflicted minor shock damage to the lighting system, but the vessel remained with the fleet. After landing the troops with no opposition, ''Richelieu'' moved to Singapore on 11 September to participate in
Operation Tiderace, the liberation of the city, the following day. She returned to Trincomalee on 16 September before getting underway again on 27 September, bound for Indochina. She steamed with ''Le Triomphant'' as escorts for the transport ships and , which carried French soldiers to restore colonial rule in Indochina. French rule was opposed by the
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
, and on arrival ''Richelieu'' was used to support the forces ashore in a variety of capacities: she served as a staging area, hospital, artillery support, and troop transport. She also contributed a landing party to the forces fighting to reassert French control.
''Richelieu'', ''Le Triomphant'', and ''Le Fantasque'' took part in
Operation Mapor at
Nha Trang
Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh District. The city ha ...
from 20 to 26 November, providing heavy fire support to soldiers fighting in the area. By this time, a French squadron consisting of the aircraft carrier and the cruisers , , and had arrived in mid-October, allowing ''Richelieu'' to be returned to France. Before leaving, ''Richelieu'' sent her four single 40 mm guns and most of her 20 mm guns ashore, along with a considerable stockpile of ammunition for the guns and 152 mm shells. She departed on 29 December and arrived in Toulon on 11 February 1946, thereafter taking part in the transport effort to send French soldiers back from France to North Africa. With that completed, she steamed north to
Cherbourg, arriving to be dry-docked on 16 March. Repairs lasted until 20 July, and consisted of replacing the starboard propeller, correcting the hull damage from the mine in September 1945, and thoroughly overhauling her boilers.
With the repairs completed, ''Richelieu'' sailed to Britain to carry the crew for the aircraft carrier , which was to be loaned to the French for five years, serving as ''Arromanches''. ''Richelieu'' thereafter began a training cruise that included stops in Casablanca, Mers-el-Kébir, and Dakar. Later that year, she visited Portugal in company with ''Arromanches''. She returned to Brest for modifications to the secondary battery from February to March 1947. The ship thereafter formed the core of a battle group that included three ex-German destroyers, based in Cherbourg. The group, along with a carrier group centered on ''Arromanches'' and cruiser group, both based in Toulon, were combined to form the ''Force d'Intervention'', with ''Richelieu'' as the flagship of ''
Vice Amiral'' (Vice Admiral)
Robert Jaujard. The unit embarked on a training cruise to Africa in May and June, beginning with the three groups assembling in Casablanca on 8 May. ''Richelieu'' arrived back in Cherbourg on 13 June and began a period of maintenance and training of new crew members. Another training cruise to North Africa followed late in 1947, and while there she conducted shooting practice to try to determine the cause of the excessive shell dispersion. The subsequent installation of 60-millisecond delays to the firing circuits of the outer guns in the turrets created enough space between the shells that they did not disrupt each other in flight, significantly improving the issue.
The ''Force d'Intervention'' was reactivated for another cruise in early 1948; the three constituent groups rendezvoused at Toulon and then conducted training exercises off North Africa. While in Mers-el-Kébir, the ship was slightly damaged while being moored in the port. Following the conclusion of the maneuvers, the force was disbanded and ''Richelieu'' steamed north to Brest, arriving on 29 May. The ship was in need of a thorough refit, and she was dry-docked in Cherbourg from August to September to survey the work that would be needed to be done. Jaujard left the ship and her crew was reduced to 750 men. Since the French naval budget was in a very limited state owing to the wrecked French economy in the immediate postwar years, ''Richelieu''s refit was postponed to allow the funds to be used to complete ''Jean Bart'' instead. ''Richelieu'' was accordingly placed in reserve on 1 April 1949. The refit eventually began on 1 January 1950 and lasted until 24 October 1951, and it included a thorough overhaul of her propulsion machinery, replacement of her worn main and secondary battery guns, and repairs to her anti-aircraft battery, along with other modifications.
![Canon Richelieu Brest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Canon_Richelieu_Brest.jpg)
During the refit, it was decided that the ship's anti-aircraft battery was too dated to allow the ship to operate in the era of jet aircraft; coupled with the need to update the ship's radar and electronics and install more capable command spaces, the costs would have been prohibitively high for the French Navy. Instead of fully modernizing the vessel, the navy decided to employ ''Richelieu'' as a
training ship
A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...
in the gunnery school in February 1951. After completing the refit, the ship underwent trials in November that involved firing nine rounds per gun from the main battery; this would be the last time ''Richelieu'' fired the 380 mm guns. Beginning in May 1952, the ship was based in Toulon as the flagship of ''CA'' Champion, and she spent the next few years conducting shooting practice with the secondary and smaller weapons to train the fleet's gunners. Another refit followed from October 1953 to February 1954. This involved replacing the British gunnery radar with a French-built set.
For the first and last time of either of their careers, ''Richelieu'' and ''Jean Bart'' cruised together on 30 January 1956. The ship's career as a sea-going gunnery ship ended in February, when she was
laid up in Brest. To prepare ''Richelieu'' for
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
, dehumidifiers were installed in the secondary turrets to inhibit rust and the 100 mm and 40 mm quad mounts were covered. The single 40 mm guns and all of the 20 mm guns still aboard the vessel were removed. She was thereafter used as a stationary school ship for reserve officers and as a
floating barracks until 30 September 1967, when she was struck from the
naval register
A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval autho ...
. Renamed ''Q432'', she was condemned on 16 January 1968 and sold to the Genoa-based
ship breaker
''Ship Breaker'' is a 2010 young adult novel by Paolo Bacigalupi set in a post-apocalyptic future. Human civilization is in decline for ecological reasons. The polar ice caps have melted and New Orleans is underwater. On the Gulf Coast nea ...
Cantieri Navali Santa Maria in September. Before she departed Brest, the four 380 mm guns of Turret I were removed and two were later preserved, one in Brest and the other in Ruelle. ''Richelieu'' was then towed to
La Spezia, where she was broken up for
scrap over the course of the following year.
Footnotes
Notes
Citations
References
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External links
*
Maritimequest ''Richelieu'' photo gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richelieu (1939)
Richelieu-class battleships
World War II battleships of France
Cold War battleships of France
Ships built in France
1939 ships