French battleship Bretagne Bretagne was a battleship of the French Navy built in the 1910s , and the lead ship of her class ; she had two sister ships , " Provence " and " Lorraine " . The ship was laid down in July 1912 at the Arsenal de Brest , launched in April 1913 , and commissioned into the fleet in February 1916 , after the outbreak of World War I . She was named in honour of the French region of Brittany , and was armed with a main battery of ten guns . " Bretagne " spent the bulk of her career in the French Mediterranean Squadron . During World War I , she was stationed at Corfu to prevent the Austro - Hungarian fleet from leaving the Adriatic Sea , but she saw no action . She remained in service during the 1920s and 1930s , while her sisters were placed in reserve . She participated in non - intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War . " Bretagne " escorted convoys after the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 , and was stationed in Mers - el - Kébir when France surrendered on 22 June 1940 . Fearful that the Germans would seize the French Navy , the British Royal Navy attacked the ships at Mers - el - Kébir ; in the attack " Bretagne " was hit badly and exploded , killing the majority of her crew . The wreck was eventually raised in 1952 and broken up for scrap . Design . " Bretagne " was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest on 1 July 1912 , launched on 21 April 1913 , and completed in September 1915 . She was commissioned into the French Navy on 10 February 1916 . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a full - load draft of . She displaced around at full load and had a crew of between 1124 and 1133 officers and enlisted men . She was powered by four Parsons steam turbines with twenty - four Niclausse boiler s . They were rated at and provided a top speed of . Coal storage amounted to . " Bretagne " s main battery consisted of ten 340mm / 45 Modèle 1912 gun s mounted in five twin gun turret s , numbered from front to rear . They were placed all on the centerline ; two were in a superfiring pair forward , one amidships , and the last two in a superfiring arrangement aft . The secondary battery consisted of twenty - two Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1910 guns in casemate s along the length of the hull . She also carried seven Hotchkiss guns , two on the conning tower and one on the roof of each turret . The ship was also armed with four submerged torpedo tube s . The ship ' s main belt was thick and the main battery was protected by up to of armor . The conning tower had thick sides . Service . After entering service in 1916 , " Bretagne " and her sisters were assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Battle Squadron , their unit for the remainder of the war , " Bretagne " becoming flagship of the squadron . They spent the majority of their time at Corfu to prevent the Austro - Hungarian fleet from attempting to break out of the Adriatic . The fleet ' s presence was also intended to intimidate Greece , which had become increasingly hostile to the Triple Entente . Later in the war , men were drawn from their crews for anti - submarine warfare vessels . As the Austro - Hungarians largely remained in port for the duration of the war , " Bretagne " saw no action during the conflict . Indeed , she did not leave port at all for the entirety of 1917 , due to a severe shortage of coal at Corfu . Around July 1918 , the ship ' s foremast was replaced by a tripod foremast that mounted an experimental fire - control director and her mainmast was shortened to allow the ship to fly a captive kite balloon . " Bretagne " returned to Toulon in November 1918 . The ship received a lengthy refit at Toulon from 12 June 1919 to 18 October 1920 . This included modifications to her gun turrets that increased the elevation of the from 12° to 18° and thus their maximum range to . The four forward guns were removed . Both anti - aircraft ( AA ) guns and two 47 - millimeter guns were replaced by four 75 mm AA guns mounted on the forward superstructure . A Vickers fire - control director replaced the experimental model and it was equipped with a rangefinder . Two additional rangefinders were installed , one on each side of the superstructure , to control the 138 mm guns . " Bretagne " became flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet in mid - June 1921 and the ship accompanied " Provence " to Le Havre for a naval review , and were back in Toulon in September . In 1922 , " Provence " and " Lorraine " were placed in reserve , leaving " Bretagne " the only member of her class in service . She spent the 1920s conducting periodic fleet maneuvers and cruises around the Mediterranean and to French colonial possessions in West Africa . " Provence " became the fleet flagship in September 1923 . " Bretagne " received a major refit at Toulon from 1 May 1924 to 29 September 1925 , during which the elevation of her main armament was increased to 23° , giving her a maximum range of , the forward hull armor was removed to make her less bow heavy , one group of boilers was converted to oil - firing and two high - angle rangefinders were added for the AA guns . The ship resumed her position as flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet in October after her refit was completed , but " Provence " assumed that role in October 1927 when " Bretagne " began another refit to repair her boilers . The navy took the opportunity to upgrade her fire - control systems ; replacing her Vickers system with a French Chamond - Granat model , adding a rangefinder at the top of the foremast and another on the conning tower . " Bretagne " was modernized in 1931 – 32 ; her torpedo tubes and four more 138 mm guns were removed while four more 75 anti - aircraft guns were added . In 1934 , " Bretagne " and " Provence " were assigned to the 2nd Squadron in the Atlantic . There , they joined fleet exercises off the Azores , Madeira , and Morocco . The two ships took part in a cruise to Africa in 1936 . In August , they were involved in non - intervention patrols after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War ; these patrols lasted until April 1937 . World War II . At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 , " Bretagne " was based in Toulon . At the time , Italy remained neutral , so there was no immediate threat for the French Mediterranean Fleet . In December , " Bretagne " covered convoy traffic in the Atlantic . On 4 December , she and " Provence " , along with the cruisers " Colbert " , " Dupleix " , and " Primauguet " and several destroyers and submarines operated out of Dakar . Around the middle of the month , the task force began to return to the Mediterranean . After returning to Toulon , " Bretagne " underwent an extensive overhaul , which lasted until 3 March 1940 . On 11 March , she left France carrying 1 , 820 boxes of gold bars from the French treasury along with the cruiser " Algérie " , which carried another 1 , 179 boxes . They arrived in Halifax on 10 April . On the return voyage , they escorted two American merchant ships carrying 82 aircraft bought by France and arrived at Toulon on 10 April . On 27 April , " Bretagne " and her two sisters were transferred to Alexandria . " Bretagne " and " Provence " returned to Mers El Kébir on 18 May . Loss . Following the French surrender on 22 June , the French fleet was to be disarmed under German and Italian supervision , under the terms of the Armistice . The British high command , however , was concerned that the French ships would be seized by the Axis powers and placed in service . The Axis navies would then outnumber the British Royal Navy . Prime Minister Winston Churchill therefore ordered Vice Admiral James Somerville , the commander of Force H , to neutralize the French fleet at Mers - el - Kébir . He was instructed to order the French vessels to join the British with the Free French , surrender for internment , to scuttle themselves , or be sunk . On 3 July , Somerville arrived and delivered the ultimatum ; the French rejected it , and so the British ships opened fire . " Bretagne " was hit by at least four projectiles from , , and . The shells detonated her ammunition magazine , causing a tremendous explosion that destroyed the ship . She sank quickly , with the loss of 977 of her crew , the vast majority of the 1 , 147 French naval personnel killed in the attack . Some initial salvaging work was done in the aftermath of the attack , but the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942 interrupted the work . " Bretagne " ultimately was salvaged in 1952 , and broken up for scrap thereafter .