French battleship Jean Bart ( 1940 ) Jean Bart was a French battleship of World War II , named for the 17th - century seaman , privateer , and corsair Jean Bart . She was the second . Derived from the , " Jean Bart " ( and her sister ship ) were designed to fight the new battleships of the Italian Navy . Their speed , shielding , armament , and overall technology were state of the art , but they had a rather unusual main battery armament arrangement , with two 4 - gun turrets forward and none aft . " Jean Bart " was incomplete in when France surrendered to Germany in June 1940 . She sailed from Saint - Nazaire to Casablanca just before the Armistice . She was sunk in harbour in 1942 . After the war she was re - floated , completed with an updated anti - aircraft battery , and entered service in 1955 . She had a very short career . " Jean Bart " was put into reserve in 1957 , decommissioned in 1961 , and scrapped in 1969 . Design . The " Richelieu " - class was designed in response to the Italian s laid down in 1934 , with being laid down in 1935 . When Germany laid down the two s in November 1935 and June 1936 , France ordered the second " Richelieu " , " Jean Bart " . " Jean Bart " was intended to be the exact sister ship of , with the same tons Standard displacement , same hull dimensions ( length : , beam : , draught : ) , same armament , protection , and propulsion . Her general layout , with two four - gun turrets forward , originated with the battleship class . The quadruple turret had first been proposed for France ' s last pre - World War I battleship projects , the ( , and s . The quad turret was also featured on nearly all the French battleship projects in the 1920s . The " all forward " main battery arrangement was influenced by pre - 1921 British battlecruiser projects and the s . The " Richelieu " - class battleships had , with calibre guns , and thick belt armor covering approximately 60 % of total length , the same hitting and staying power as contemporary battleships built within the limit of tons displacement in the Washington Naval Treaty . The 32 knot maximum speed was surpassed only by the U . S . s . Construction . " Jean Bart " was laid down in December 1936 ; she was built in the large dock in , commonly known as the " " Jean Bart " dock " . She was floated out on 6 March 1940 , and transferred from the building basin to the near - by fitting - out basin . She was expected to leave in October 1940 . In May 1940 , it was decided that the uncompleted battleship had to be sent to a safer place in Britain or in French Africa , beyond the Luftwaffe ' s range . However , the fitting - out basin , where the ship was afloat , was separated from the navigational channel by an earth dam . In late May , when it appeared that Germany would win the Battle of France , the Navy began dredging the earth dam , so " Jean Bart " could leave at high tide on 20 June . Half the propulsion machinery ( boilers and turbines ) was installed , to be used when necessary . On 18 June , as German troops were approaching , her captain was ordered to prepare to sail immediately or to scuttle the ship . The dredging work was finished the middle of the next night , with very narrow margins for the battleship to pass through , and in the early hours of 19 June , nearly in view of the German vanguard , " Jean Bart " – barely 75 % completed , her steam engines never having been worked before , and under the threat of German bombers – was taken out of the Saint Nazaire docks by four tugs . She reached Casablanca under her own steam on 22 June ; the average speed on the journey ' s final leg was . Characteristics on 19 June 1940 . She was only about 75 % complete when construction was halted by her escape to Casablanca . Armament . The designed main battery was eight / 45 Modèle 1935 guns in two quadruple Modèle 1935 turrets forward , The secondary battery was nine / 52 Model 1930 guns , in three dual - purpose Modèle 1936 turrets aft , two lateral and one axial . Main and secondary artillery . From 1936 to 1938 , twenty - one 380 mm / 45 Modèle 1935 gun barrels were constructed at the naval artillery establishment . Sixteen were to be fitted on " Richelieu " and " Jean Bart " , two were to be retained at Ruelle , and three were for the Gâvres gunnery testing ground , near Lorient . Twelve were installed : eight on " Richelieu " and four in the # 1 turret on " Jean Bart " ) . The remaining nine fell into German hands in 1940 , except for one lost when the freighter " Mecanicien Principal Lestin " . bound for Casablanca , was sunk by German aerial attack off the Gironde estuary in June 1940 . It was taking one barrel earmarked for the " Jean Bart " s # 2 main turret . When it had been decided , in November 1939 , to reallocate the amidships 152 mm turrets from the first pair of the s , to the next battleship to be built , " Clemenceau " , no armour plating was installed on the barbettes already in place , on " Richelieu " , and the installation of the corresponding barbettes was cancelled on " Jean Bart " . When " Jean Bart " left Saint - Nazaire , to Casablanca , in June 1940 , none of the three aft 152 mm turrets had yet been installed . Anti - aircraft light artillery . As there was a shortage of CAD Model 1930 turrets , intended to be substituted to the 152 mm amidships turrets on " Richelieu " and " Jean Bart " , it was decided to install on " Jean Bart " CAD Modèle 1930 turrets , which were in use on the most recent light cruisers . The / 50 Modèle 1926 guns of these turrets fired OEA Model 1925 shells , weighing , with a muzzle velocity of 850 m / s , at a maximum range of and a ceiling ( at 80° maximum elevation ) . The rate of fire was 10 - 15rpm theoretical , 6 - 8rpm practical . Due to the difficulties to dispose of the twin automatic 37 mm ACAD Modèle 1935 mountings in time for the withdrawal of " Jean Bart " from Saint - Nazaire , in June 1940 , she was fitted , as the s , and the , with the less efficient semi - automatic 37 mm CAD Modèle 1933 mountings , in scarce number . When " Jean Bart " left for Casablanca , she had been fitted with two 90 mm CAD mountings , hastily installed the day before but without any ammunition ; with three 37 mm CAD Modèle 1933 mountings , and two four - gun and four two - gun 13 . 2 mm MG , but there was as yet no target designation or unified control system . Fire control systems . As she was designed with exactly the same fire control director systems as , neither directors nor range finders were installed before the " Jean Bart " left Saint - Nazaire , not even the stereoscopic range finder , which was to be installed in the main turret still in place . Aircraft facilities . The aviation facilities also remained incomplete , only the bases of the catapults , the elevator and the base of the crane had been installed . Armour and underwater protection . The hull armour was installed exactly as designed for the : The conning tower had the same armour thickness as " Richelieu " ( on front and sides ) , but the 380 mm gun # 1 turret was only a steel frame , without any armour plating as no barrel could have been installed before the battleship left France . The underwater protection was exactly the same ( 7m wide ) as on . It consisted of a sandwich of void spaces , light bulkheads , liquid loading compartments or compartments filled with a rubber - based water - excluding compound ( " ébonite - mousse " ) , and a heavy internal holding bulkhead to absorb the explosion of a torpedo head . Propulsion . The four Parsons turbine sets , and the six Sural boilers were installed , but only the boilers of the after boiler room , and the turbines of the after engine room were in working order . Only two propellers have been fitted , on the outer shafts , on 6 – 7 June . History . At Casablanca . " Jean Bart " , moored in Casablanca harbour , stayed uncompleted as facilities to complete her were completely lacking . Her 90 mm and 37 mm mountings were even disembarked , and reallocated to the Casablanca harbour anti - aircraft defence , and the battleship left with only four twin 13 . 2 mm AA machine guns . During 1941 , a duplex OPL Modèle 1937 rangefinder was installed on the fore tower platform 8 , and another duplex OPL Modèle 1937 range finder , atop the # 2 turret . A SOM range finder was fitted atop the conning tower for navigation , and , in October , two fire control directors , with SOM range finder , removed from the " Dunkerque " , were fitted on the bridge wings . In April 1942 , the anti - aircraft defence was reinforced with four 37 mm AA single CAS Modèle 1925 mountings , and two new - built 90 mm twin AA mountings . In May , a standard test - firing of the 380 mm guns was carried out , as a fire control system was conceived , using triangulation from three points , the forward tower of " Jean Bart " , and the shore stations of Sidi Abderhamane and Dar Bou Azza . In June , two 37 mm AA double semi - automatic CAD Modèle 1933 mountings were fitted as the single 37 mm Modèle 1925 , but one , were disembarked . The French DEM early radar installation was installed , with two rotating antennæ atop the forward tower , and passed for operational service in October . During early November , a fifth 90 mm AA mounting was installed . On 8 November 1942 , Allied landings in French North Africa ( Operation Torch ) began . Vichy French government forces attacked the Allied forces in defense of the neutrality of French Morocco , in what became known as the Naval Battle of Casablanca . " Jean Bart " opened fire with the four guns of her one operational turret on U . S . warships covering the landings . She was hit aand moderately damaged by U . S . dive bombers from the aircraft carrier . She was silenced by the fifth hit from the guns of the battleship , which jammed the rotating mechanism of the one working turret . . The first of the seven shells which hit her , and the only one which pierced the upper armoured deck , had exploded in a magazine of turret , which was empty as these turrets had not been installed . In normal war circumstances , this event would have had catastrophic consequences . The weakness of the armor of these magazines was known , and was to be corrected on the " Gascogne " . The turret was quickly repaired . On 10 November , " Jean Bart " opened fire again , and almost hit the , the Task Force 34 flagship . Bombers from " Ranger " soon inflicted severe damage on her , two heavy bombs hitting the bow and the stern , and she sank into the harbor mud with decks awash . " Jean Bart " ' s commanding officer , Captain Barthes , was promoted to Rear Admiral on 18 November 1942 . During the three days of the ' Battle of Casablanca ' , " Jean Bart " fired twenty - five 380 mm rounds ; twenty - two of her seamen were killed . Completion . After the French North Africa forces joined the Allies , the French hoped to complete " Jean Bart " in the United States . But the first decision which affected the " Jean Bart " was the removing of the four 380 mm barrels of her main artillery # 2 turret , which were shipped to the United States , to replace the ruined barrels of the " Richelieu " , which had not been repaired in Dakar , due to the German obstruction . Then , the ship was quickly made seaworthy for an Atlantic voyage . The proposals for her completion were delivered to the US Navy by Vice Admiral Fenard , the Chief of the French Naval Mission to the United States . A May 1943 proposal was for completion as a hybrid battleship - carrier . " Jean Bart " would have been armed with only one main turret , using guns from which had been interned in Alexandria in 1940 . To this would be added fifteen U . S . - built dual - purpose double turrets , sixteen Bofors quad mountings , numerous Oerlikon mountings , and aircraft installations for six planes ( Grumman Avenger or Fairey Barracuda bombers and Hellcat or Seafire fighters ) . A second , less expensive , proposal was for an AA battleship . Armament would have used the main battery as the first proposal , plus seventeen double turrets and twenty Bofors quad mountings . US naval staff concluded that American shipyards could not easily replicate French methodologies and that the necessary parts were not available ; all proposals were rejected by Admiral Ernest King , operational commander of the US Navy , in March 1944 , and " Jean Bart " remained in Casablanca . When the war ended , the French Navy decided " Jean Bart " would not be scrapped on 22 February 1945 but the question of how the ship was to be completed remained . At a meeting of the French Navy Board , on 21 September 1945 , , Chief Naval Construction , who had designed the in the 1930s , proposed completing her as a aircraft carrier operating 40 – 54 aircraft . The conversion would take no less than five years at a cost 5 billion Francs . This seemed unsatisfactory , especially to Admiral Fenard and Admiral Nomy ( later Chief of Staff in 1951 ) , as foreign carriers were carrying twice the aircraft on the same displacement ; for example , the British then under construction had a displacement , ( full load ) , and designed for 80 aircraft . Rear Admiral Barjot noted that it seemed strange that there was so much opposition to the carrier conversion , despite wartime experience showing the need for carriers . The decision was finally made to complete " Jean Bart " as a battleship , a « second " Richelieu " » . She would be a command ship with heavy anti - aircraft armament , while her main armament would be useful for shore bombardment . " Jean Bart " , which had left Casablanca in August 1945 for Cherbourg , which had the only usable graving dock on the French Atlantic coast at the time , was moved to the Brest Arsenal ' s Laninon docks in March 1946 . Work proceeded slowly as the facility was still recovering from wartime damage . 380 mm and 152 mm batteries and radars . Postwar , nine 380 mm guns were constructed at , two in 1945 , three in 1946 , and four in 1947 . One was retained at Ruelle , seven were installed on the " Jean Bart " , the eighth gun on " Jean Bart " , in 1949 , being the fourth gun of " Jean Bart " s # 1 turret , sent in 1943 to the U . S . Dahlgren gunnery testing ground . The battleship emerged with a much more compact fore control tower , topped by only one fire control director ( " Richelieu " had two after her refit ) . Her fire control system was not specially up - to - date , and the radars fitted were the first French - built postwar types . Eight rangefinders were installed , An ABM fire control radar was fitted , in 1948 , on the face of the fire control director atop the forward tower . The surface surveillance radars were a DRBV 10 - type one , installed in November 1948 , above the conning tower , and a DRBV 30 - type radar for navigation purpose , atop the main mast . The air surveillance radar was a DRBV 20 - type , installed in June 1949 , lower on the main mast , in November 1949 . In 1948 , the " Jean Bart " received an additional bulge to limit the increase of her draught , due to the planned fitting of stronger anti - aircraft artillery ; her beam reached , but eight 40 mm Bofors and twenty 20 mm Oerlikon remained provisionnally in place for the anti - aircraft defence . Gunnery trials for the main and second batteries were carried out , in January 1949 , and speed sea trials , on February 7 , 1949 , showed a top speed of more than with a displacement . Thus , the " Jean Bart " has been officially commissioned on 16 January 1949 . Since 1950 , the " Jean Bart " received new radars . First , the battery fire control directors were fitted , for anti - aircraft purpose , with two ACAE radars which did not proved to be very reliable . From 1951 , a air and surface surveillance radar DRBV 11 - type was installed atop the main mast , thus the DRBV 20 - type and the DRBV 30 - type radars were moved to the fore mast . As this DRBV 11 - type radar was low performing , its replacement by a DRBV 22 - type was intented , but this was never done . The ABM - type radar was replaced by a DRBC10A - type radar , which proved to be efficient to a range of . The # 1 main turret was mothballed at the end of 1951 , and the # 2 turret partially so , but the latter was reactivated in two weeks , in August 1956 , because of the participation of the " Jean Bart " to the Suez Expedition . The ammunition provision was , in 1955 – 1957 , of three hundred twenty eight OPfK Model 1943 shells of US manufacture , and four hundred six OEA Model 1945 shells of British manufacture , and for the battery , of 750 OPf and 2284 OEA . Anti - aircraft artillery . The interim 40 mm AA Bofors guns were removed in 1952 , and the remaining 20 mm Oerlikon guns in 1954 . The anti - aircraft short range artillery , twenty - four guns in twelve CAD Modèle 1946 dual mountings , and twenty - eight Bofors licensed guns in fourteen French - built ACAD Modèle 1948 dual mountings , was fitted in 1952 – 1953 . The 100 mm / 55 Modèle 1945 guns fired shells at a rate of 20 - 25rpm , with a muzzle velocity of , and had a maximum range of , and a ceiling of , at a maximum elevation of 70° . The " Jean Bart " CAD Modèle 1946 fully enclosed dual mountings , weighed , as the " Richelieu " CAD Modèle 1931 dual mountings had a weight of . They were controlled by four gyro - stabilized directors , derived from the German " Wackeltopf " which equipped the guns of the battleships and cruisers of the Kriegsmarine . But the four ACAE radars fitted on these directors had poor performances , we have seen it for the battery , and their replacement by DRBC 30B - type radars , as those which were installed for the AA battery was projected but never intervened . The French Navy , for the " Jean Bart " s short range anti - aircraft artillery , wanted to have a heavier caliber than the . The new Bofors / 60 Modèle 1947 was chosen , with French - built ACAD Modèle 1948 dual mountings . This gun fired a shell at a rate of 120rpm , with a muzzle velocity of , at a maximum range of and a ceiling of , at a maximum elevation of 90° . The weight of the fully enclosed ACAD mountings was . They were controlled by five fire control systems , with DRBC 30B - type radars on the directors , which followed the target automatically . These 57 mm dual mountings were fitted on the eighteen " Surcouf " - class " escorteurs d ' escadre " , on the eighteen and " escorteurs rapides " Type E 50 and Type E 52 , and on the anti - aircraft cruisers and . Post war active service . The " Jean Bart " was admitted to active service on 1 May 1955 . She soon took the President of the French Republic in an official visit to Copenhagen , and went on to Oslo . In July , she took part ( in New York ) in ceremonies celebrating the 175th anniversary of the Newport landing of French troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau , during the American War of Independence . On 21 October , in Toulon , the " Jean Bart " succeeded the " Richelieu " as the flagship of the South Group of Schools . During her active career , the " Jean Bart " had a complement of 750 to 900 men ; 1500 had been planned . She reached more than 1200 men when she was about to be sent due to the Suez Canal crisis , but even then , only the # 2 turret and the axial turret , and about the half anti - aircraft battery turret could be manned . In 1956 , she took part in the operations off Port - Saïd during the Suez Crisis , but the French bombing support of land operations was not primarily the act of four shots fired by her guns against the land , but of the French Aeronavale Corsairs , and the " Jean Bart " s main operational contribution was to ship the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment from Algiers to Cyprus . After having fired the last French Navy gun shots in July 1957 , the " Jean Bart " was placed in reserve , on August 1 , 1957 , and served as a school ship for the gunnery training schools in Toulon . Afterwards , there were some proposals in 1957 – 1958 to modernize her anti - aircraft artillery with new turrets ( Model 53 in place of Model 45 ) , or later to transform her into a guided missile battleship as had been ( but no French - built missile existed at that time , so it was proposed to use the U . S . Terrier missile ) . In 1964 , when a command ship was looked for by the Pacific Center for Nuclear Experiments , the cruiser was preferred to the " Jean Bart " , which would have been more expensive to transform . Decommissioned in 1968 , the " Jean Bart " was scrapped in 1970 at near Toulon , leaving the Turkish " Yavuz " , formerly the , the only survivor afloat in European waters of the battleship era . The " Jean Bart " was overall an experimental battleship , never fully operational , mainly because of budget cuts but also because , when the " Jean Bart " was completed , the battleship was no longer the capital ship for the French Navy , since instead three aircraft carrier s – the , , and – operated during the 1950s in bombing support against land in Indochina , in Algeria , and during the Suez Crisis . However , she was very useful post - war as a testbed for new French - built naval AA guns and radars .