''Émile Bertin'' was a French fast light cruiser named after Louis-Émile Bertin, a 19th-century naval architect. She was designed to operate both as a minelayer and as a destroyer flotilla leader. The design was the basis for later light and heavy French cruisers, particularly the slightly larger of cruisers. This was the first French warship to use triple mountings for guns.

Design and description

''Émile Bertin'' had an overall length of , a beam 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 v ...

of . She displaced at standard load and at deep load. Her hull was divided by 13 bulkheads into 14 watertight compartments. Her crew consisted of 543 men in peacetime and 675 in wartime; she carried an additional 24 men when serving as a flagship.

Service history

World War II

Before World War II, ''Émile Bertin'' served as flagship for a flotilla of 12 large

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s of the and es in the Atlantic. At the start of 1939, she was transferred to

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

. In secrecy, she arrived in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

on 23 September 1939, loaded with 57 tons of gold - the Polish state gold reserves - and returned to Toulon on 27 September. In January 1940, after a refit at Toulon, she carried out surveillance around the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

to ensure that there were no German forces there. After further dockyard work at Brest, in early April 1940, she became the flagship of Group Z, the French squadron supporting the Allied Norwegian campaign, with Admiral Edmond Derrien in command. As well as ''Émile Bertin'', Group Z comprised the ''contre-torpilleurs'' (large destroyers) , , , , and , as well as the , and . Off Namsos, she was attacked by the ''

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

'' and damaged by bombs on 19 April. She returned to Brest for repair and remained there until 21 May, and was replaced off Norway, by the cruiser . She made two trips from Brest to

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, the first with the cruiser and

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

, carrying gold from the Bank of France. The French armistice was signed shortly after ''Émile Bertin'' had docked for the second time, and when Captain Battet signaled the French Admiralty for advice, the cruiser was ordered to

Fort-de-France Fort-de-France (, , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. History Before it was ceded to France by Spain in 1635, the area of Fort-de-Fra ...

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

with the gold. No effort by Royal Navy units present succeeded in preventing this, but the ocean liner , which was to follow ''Émile Bertin'', did not succeed in leaving Halifax fast enough. She was seized and used as a troopship, operating under British colours. Once at Martinique and the gold safely unloaded, she made ready to defend the island against an expected British attack - which was abandoned through United States pressure. From June 1940-July 1943 the ship was inactive at anchor off

, until, on 16 May 1942 she was ordered by the Vichy authorities to be immobilized, after pressure from the United States. She joined the Allied forces in August 1943, and was modernized in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. ''Émile Bertin'' later operated in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, took part in the Allied invasion of southern France ( Operation Dragoon) in 1944 and later bombarded Axis positions along the Italian Riviera.

Post-war career

After various Mediterranean duties, the cruiser entered Toulon for a refit until October 1945. She then deployed as flagship to

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) 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 th ...

until 2 July 1946, when she sailed for Toulon with the cruiser . After returning to Indochina, she set sail for France, carrying the ashes of Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque on 4 December, 1947. ''Émile Bertin'' then moored at Toulon, serving as a gunnery training ship, a floating barracks, and finally a target ship until being decommissioned in 1952. She sold for scrap in October 1959.

References

Bibliography