French Navy Battleships

12 Mar 1907 Iéna explodes in drydock.

25 Sep 1911 Liberté explodes and sinks.

August 1914-11 November 1918: World War I. Victory for France

The French Navy largely operates in the Mediterranean. Battleship construction (Normandie class, Lyon class, and the 1913 battlecruiser project) was quickly abandoned in favor of Army projects.

• 16 Aug 1914: Condorcet, Diderot, and Vergniaud sink Austrian cruiser Zenta.
• 18 Mar 1915: Gallipoli Campaign: Bouvet sunk and Suffren seriously damaged by Turkish shore batteries. Galouis mined, and had to be run aground.
• 1916: Masséna scuttled as a breakwater to cover the evacuation of Gallipoli.
• 27 Nov 1916: Suffren torpedoed and sunk.
• 16 Dec 1916 Mirabeau bombards Greek royal palace in Athens. Greece changes sides in the war.
• 27 Dec 1916: Galouis torpedoed and sunk in the Aegean by U-47 .
• 19 Mar 1917: Danton torpedoed and sunk by U-64.

13 Feb 1919 Mirabeau runs aground off Crimea.

April 1919 Mirabeau refloated.

Washington Treaty

While the Japanese may have complained the loudest about the battleship "ratio" (for every 5 RN and 5 USN battleships, the IJN got 3) in the Treaty, France may have had more to complain about. Their "ratio" was 1.75!

• 12 Nov 1921-6 Feb 1922 Washington Conference on naval arms limitation.
• 6 Feb 1922: The Washington Treaty signed. New battleship construction stopped, many old battleships scrapped.

26 Aug 1922 France runs aground in a storm.

1930: France renounces the Washington Treaty, and begins work on Dunkerque class.

1 September 1939-2 Sep 1945: World War II. Total defeat, then victory for France.

• 1 Sep 1939: France declares war on Germany.
• 7 Oct 1939: Dunkerque and Strasbourg search for German panzerschiffe Graf Spee.
• 10 May 1940: Germany invades France.
• 17 May 1940: French admiralty decides to prepare the incomplete Jean Bart for escape.
• 15 Jun 1940: French admiralty orders all ships to be ready to sail to England.
• 18 Jun 1940: French admiralty decides to send ships to French colonies instead. Richelieu ordered to Dakar.
• 19 Jun 1940: German aircraft attack the incomplete Jean Bart as she escapes from St. Nazaire.
• 21 Jun 1940: Lorraine bombards Italian positions near Bardia.
• 23 Jun 1940: Jean Bart arrives at Casablanca.
• 23 Jun 1940: Richelieu arrives at Dakar.
• 25 Jun 1940: France surrenders to Germany.
• Jul 1940: Lorraine interned by the British at Alexandria.
• 3 Jul 1940: Mers-el-Khebir: British battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Resolution and battlecruiser HMS Hood attack French battleships and battlecruisers in port to prevent their capture by the Germans. Provence and Dunkerque damaged, Bretagne sunk. Strasbourg escapes.
• 8 Jul 1940: British aircraft from carrier HMS Hermes attack Richelieu at Dakar. Richelieu takes damage astern, including one damaged shaft and keel damage.
• 24-25 Sep 1940: Battle of Dakar: Arguably the most justifiably forgetten battleship action ever. British battleships HMS Barham and HMS Resolution fail to seriously damage the Richelieu. Richelieu returns fire and slightly damages HMS Barham and more seriously damages herself.
• 8 Nov 1942: Battle of Casablanca: While covering the Allied invasion of North Africa, USS Massachusetts damages Jean Bart's sole operational main gun turret, knocking her out of action. Jean Bart's guns had failed to damage USS Massachusetts.
• Sometime before Mar 1941: Clemenceau launched to clear the dock to repair Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
• 12 Nov 1942: French forces in North Africa cease fire against the Allies.
• 27 Nov 1942: Battleships Provence and Ocean and battlecrusers Dunkerque and Strasbourg scuttle at Toloun, after Germany abolished the pseudo-independent Vichy government.
• 30 Jan 1943: Richelieu departs Dakar for the United States.
• 16 Feb 1943: Richelieu arrives at New York for a refit.
• 31 May 1943: Lorraine returned to Free French forces.
• 17 Jul 1943: Strasbourg raised by Italian salvage teams.
• Aug 1943: Richelieu completes refit.
• 19 Apr 1944: Richelieu, operating with the British Eastern Fleet, bombards Sabang.
• Jun 1944: Allies invade Normandy. Courbet is scuttled as part of the "Mulberry" breakwater.
• 18 Aug 1944: Strasbourg sunk by US bombers.
• Dec 1944: Lorraine bombards German positions in southern France.
• 15 Apr 1945: Lorraine bombards German fortifcatons at Royan.
• 6 May 1945: German Admiral Dönitz surrenders for Germany.

15 Sep 1945: Richelieu, operating with HMS Nelson, strikes a mine in the Straits of Malacca. Wine tank damaged.

2 September 1945-1946: Indochina. Short-lived victory for France.

• 3 Oct 1945: Richelieu arrives at Cap Saint-Jaques.
• Oct 1945: Richelieu patrols the coast of Indochina.
• 17 November 1945: Richelieu disembarks 6th Infantry, bombards Nha-Trang with 100mm and 152mm guns.
• 29 December 1945: Richelieu departs from Indochina.

4 Dec 1948: Jean Bart runs preliminary sea trials.

16 Jan 1949: Jean Bart runs acceptance trials.

April 1950: Jean Bart finally commissioned, without some of her AA battery.

24 Oct 1956: Jean Bart sails for Algiers, to take part in Suez operations.