 Early in the morning on 8 November the Naval Battle of Casablanca began. Lying off the city, Massachusetts, the heavy cruisers Tuscaloosa and Wichita and four destroyers, came under fire from four 194 mm (7.6 in) and four 138 mm (5.4 in) guns in a shore battery at El Hank. The American ships responded by shelling Jean Bart, an incomplete French battleship forced to sail from Saint-Nazaire in May 1940 to escape advancing Axis forces. When engaged, Jean Bart had only one of her two quadruple turrets installed, the other having its guns lost to torpedo attack while in shipment from France.
