''De Grasse'' was an anti-aircraft cruiser of 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 ...

. She was the first French vessel named in honour of François Joseph Paul, Marquis de Grasse Tilly,

Comte de Grasse ''Comte'' is the French, Catalan and Occitan form of the word 'count' (Latin: ''comes''); ''comté'' is the Gallo-Romance form of the word 'county' (Latin: ''comitatus''). Comte or Comté may refer to: * A count in French, from Latin ''comes'' * A ...

. From 1965 to 1971, she was involved in the nuclear test campaigns in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Design and description

The ''De Grasse'' class was designed as an enlarged and improved version of the preceding . The ships would have had 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

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 . They would have displaced at

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 ...

load and at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...

. The hull was divided by 15 bulkheads into 16

watertight compartments Floodability is the susceptibility of a ship's construction to flooding. It also refers to the ability to intentionally flood certain areas of the hull for damage control purposes, or to increase stability, which is particularly important in comb ...

World War II capture

The unfinished ship (some 28% complete) was captured in June 1940 by the invading Germans during the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

. In April 1942 the Germans began planning to convert ''De Grasse'' to a

light aircraft carrier A light aircraft carrier, or light fleet carrier, is an aircraft carrier that is smaller than the standard carriers of a navy. The precise definition of the type varies by country; light carriers typically have a complement of aircraft only one-h ...

, provisionally named . On 3 December 1942

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

ordered that ''De Grasse'' was to be built as an aircraft carrier for Germany but the work was stopped in February 1943 for several reasons, including a lack of materials and manpower and the threat of air attacks in Lorient.Gröner, p. 77

Post-war

After the war the hull was eventually launched in 1946. The construction was halted again between 1946 and 1951, when she was towed to the

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 ...

Navy yard to be completed, to a significantly modified design as an anti-aircraft cruiser. *Displacement: 9380 tons standard, 12,350 tons full load *Dimensions: Length 188.4 m (o.a.), beam 18.6 m (w.l.) ; 21.5 m, draught 5.5 m (

) ; 6.3 m full load *Machinery: two-shaft steam turbine, 4 boilers, ( during trials) *Speed: *Armament: ** 16 × 127 mm guns (8 twin turrets) ** 20 × 57 mm guns (10 twin turrets) ** No more aircraft and no more torpedo The trials began on 17 August 1954 and she was commissioned on 10 September 1956.

Nuclear testing flagship

She was used as an anti-aircraft cruiser and flagship within the Mediterranean squadron, until she was selected to join the Pacific Experimentation Centre to participate in the first nuclear tests in

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

. She undertook some modification in from May 1964 until February 1966, with the bridge being doubled, a -high quadripod mast mounted on the aft roof and half the armament removed. The ship was also made gas-tight and fitted with washdown facilities. The equipment was modernised and the crew was downsized to 560 men, to make accommodation available for 160 engineers and technicians. The ship was used for six testing campaigns between 1966 and 1972. She was decommissioned in 1973 and was sold for scrap on 25 January 1974. Scrapping took place in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

during 1975.

Notes

References

* * John Jordan and Bruno Guire, ''The Cruiser de Grasse'' in ''Warship 2008'', Conway's Maritime Press. *

External links

NetMarine.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Grasse De Grasse-class cruisers Cold War cruisers of France Ships built in France 1946 ships