French cruiser Jean de Vienne
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''Jean de Vienne'' was a French light cruiser of the . During World War II, she remained with Vichy France. She was named for Jean de Vienne, a 14th-century French knight, general and admiral during the
Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
.


Design and description

The ''La Galissonnière'' class was designed as an enlarged and improved version of the preceding . The ships had an overall length of , a
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of , and a draft of . They displaced at standard load and at deep load. Their crew consisted of 557 men in peacetime and 612 in wartime. When completed, , ''Jean de Vienne'', and formed the 3rd Cruisers Division, flagship ''Marseillaise'', attached to the Mediterranean Squadron, and based in
Bizerte Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the northernmost city in Africa, located 65 km (40mil) north of the cap ...
. At the start of World War II, ''Jean de Vienne'' had completed a major refit at Toulon and had returned to the 3rd Cruiser Division, still at Bizerte. Her formation was to protect French interests in North Africa, should Italy enter the war. As Italy remained neutral, the 3rd Cruiser Division's role was limited, the main event being to transport French gold bullion to Halifax, Nova Scotia in December 1939. After Italy's entry into the war on 10 June 1940, there was a major French sortie to prevent anticipated attempts by the ''Kriegsmarine'' to force the
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. The only sight of the enemy was a failed attack by the . With the other ''La Galissonnière''-class cruisers, ''Jean de Vienne'' was at
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
at the time of the Armistice, in late June 1940. On 3 July, at Mers-el-Kébir, Admiral Sommerville, commander of
Force H Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place within the ...
, had to deliver an ultimatum to the French admiral commanding the French battleship squadron, either to join the British or to be attacked. As negotiations dragged on, the French Admiralty signaled in a radio message in clear, that the Algiers cruisers had been ordered to join the battleship squadron off Mers-el-Kébir. The
British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
warned Admiral Somerville and hurried him to put an end to the negotiations with the French admiral and to open fire. So the six cruisers, too far to intervene, made for Toulon instead, where they arrived the day after. ''Jean de Vienne'' remained there, out of action until she joined the French High Seas Force in March 1941. In January 1942, ''Jean de Vienne'' was sent to rescue the liner ''Lamoriciere'', whose sinking in a winter tempest, off the
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, caused more than 300 deaths. . During the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon, ''Jean de Vienne'' was in
drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
, and her captain, ''Capitaine de Vaisseau'' Mailloux had her moved forward, to obstruct the gates. Although German commandos rushed aboard and found and disarmed the demolition charges, the ship's valves had been opened and the ship settled, blocking the gates and making the drydock useless. Her crew had also smashed every piece of equipment.


Italian ''FR.11''

She was handed over to Italy's '' Regia Marina'', renamed ''FR.11'' and raised on 18 February 1943. Italy received many French ships in November 1942 in addition to ''Jean de Vienne'': 2 light cruisers, 11 destroyers, 11 minor ships (corvettes, etc.), 9 submarines and 10 minesweepers. A ship refit was begun but was only about 85% complete at the time of the Italian armistice. By the end of June 1943, ''FR.11'' was ready to be moved from Toulon to Liguria for the last repairs, and a crew from the sunken Italian cruiser was sent to Toulon in order to manage the ship. However, the departure was delayed and the vessel fell into German hands once more in September.Photos & information on the FR.11 (in Italian)
/ref> In an air raid, the ship was hit by incendiary bombs on 24 November 1943 and set ablaze, gradually listing until she rested against the quayside. When Toulon was liberated by the
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in August 1944 (
Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil) was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15August 1944. Despite initially designed to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord, th ...
), a refit was considered but the idea was abandoned and ''Jean de Vienne'' was scrapped.


Bibliography

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Notes


External links


FR.11
Marina Militare website {{DEFAULTSORT:Jean de Vienne La Galissonnière-class cruisers World War II cruisers of France 1935 ships World War II warships scuttled at Toulon Naval ships of France captured by Italy during World War II Naval ships of France captured by Germany during World War II Naval ships of Italy captured by Germany during World War II Cruisers sunk by aircraft Maritime incidents in November 1942 Maritime incidents in November 1943