French battleship Strasbourg The Strasbourg was the second and last battleship of the built for the French Navy before World War II . She was slightly more heavily armoured than the . Background . Early development concepts . In 1922 , the Washington Naval Treaty imposed a ten - year moratorium on the construction of new battleships . France was allowed to replace two old battleships after 1927 for a total of 70 , 000 tons . In 1925 , the first Italian was laid down , and launched the following year ; these ships could threaten French sea lane s between metropolitan France and colonial holdings in North Africa . In response , Vice Admiral Henri Salaun of the French Admiralty began discussing counters in 1926 and 1927 . They considered a 17 , 500 ton design which would allow for four ships under the treaty limit . They would have two quadruple 305 mm ( 12 - inches ) turrets forward . The use of quadruple - gunned turrets had been planned for the cancelled and s , while the all - forward configuration was inspired by the British . Speed would have been 34 – 35 knots , with armour to resist 203 mm shells . However , these ships were not ordered as they could not withstand old Italian battleships . The 17 , 500 ton design was followed by new studies for a 37 , 000 ton battlecruiser in 1927 – 1928 . A trial displacement of 37 , 000 tons was equivalent to a standard displacement of 32 – 33 , 000 tons , which was close to the treaty limit for battleships . At least two draft designs were made , showing an enlarged with a 254m long hull with a 30 . 5m beam and two raked funnels . The main armament ' s fire control director was atop a tripod foremast . Armament was three quadruple 305 mm turrets ( two fore and one aft ) , eight single 90 mm Mle 1926 HA guns , twelve 37 mm Mle 1925 single AA mountings , and triple torpedo tubes . The armour belt would have a 220 – 280mm thickness . A hangar was behind the bridge structure with two catapults abeam the second funnel . Power would have been from two groups of boilers and turbines , as on the es , although with 12 rather than 8 Guyot - du - Temple boilers for 180 , 000 hp and 33 knot s . In 1928 , an alternate 37 , 000 ton design emerged as a fast battleship . This design had a heavier armament of three twin 406mm turrets and four quadruple 130mm turrets . The hull was slightly shorter at 235m , but had a slightly wider 31m beam . Armour was thicker , but had only two - thirds the power for only 27 knots . The 37 , 000 ton battleships also did not go forward . The French Navy did not have a dock large enough to build a 35 , 000 ton hull that was longer than 250m For comparison , the 247m long SS " Île de France " had been built at the civilian Louis Joubert Lock at Saint - Nazaire . Building the required naval infrastructure would have cost the same as the two battleships , and interfered with existing building programs . Furthermore , more stringent naval restrictions were being discussed . The League of Nations ' Disarmament Subcommittee had turned their attention to naval limitations , and the British were pushing for a limit of 25 , 000 tons with 305mm guns for battleships . The French did not want to jeopardize these negotiations . Vice Admiral Violette , Chief of Staff of the French Navy , ordered a new study in 1929 for a protected cruiser from the " Service Technique des Constructions Navales " , the department responsible for naval construction . The resulting design had a displacement of 23 , 690 tons , three 305mm turrets ( one triple and one quadruple forward , and one triple aft ) , four twin 138mm mountings ( calibre used on the most recent destroyers ) , and eight twin 100mm turrets for AA ( as on , the latest heavy cruiser ) . Speed would have been 29 knots , with armour only able to withstand 203mm shells . The design resembled " Algérie " with a distinctive forward tower with a single funnel abaft . This profile would carry into the final " Dunkerque " design . " Dunkerque " emerges . French plans were upset when the Germans laid down the first in February 1929 . Although the cruisers displaced far more than allowed by treaty , they were nonetheless well - suited for commerce raiding and could outrun all major capital ships except for and the two s of the British Royal Navy . The French immediately prepared drafts for a counter to the " Deutschland " s . Protection against the German ' s 280 mm shells was the paramount requirement , although it seemed the armament from previous projects and a speed of 30 knots might be maintained . The end displacement was 23 000 to 25 000 tons , which fit within the limitations proposed by Britain . The 1930 London Naval Treaty extended the " battleship holiday " from the Washington Naval Treaty to the end of 1936 , although France and Italy were allowed to lay down new battleships in accordance to the older treaty . However , France refused to adhere to new restrictions , mainly related to cruisers , due to new German naval construction . In response , Italy also refused to accept the new restrictions . Bilateral negotiations between France and Italy took place in early 1931 to resolve the issue , resulting in an agreement on March 1 allowing each country to build only two 23 , 333 ton battleships until 1936 . It was not possible to go further ; the Italians were not satisfied with their 23 , 333 ton design and were studying a 35 , 000 ton design . The French decided to go forward with 23 , 333 tons as a compromise between an inadequately armoured 17 , 000 ton ship and a prohibitively expensive 35 , 000 ton ship . The design was 213m long with a 27 . 5m beam , armed with two quadruple 305mm / 55 calibre turrets forward and three quad 130mm dual purpose turrets aft , had a 230mm armoured belt and 150mm horizontal protection , and a speed of 30 knots . The design was submitted to Parliament in May and rejected after two months of debate ; it seemed excessive to counter the ( officially ) 10 , 000 ton " Deutschland " with a ship twice the size , and why the 35 , 000 ton design was not preferable . In July , the navy allowed to carry out revisions for resubmission later . Vice Admiral Durand - Viel became Chief of Staff in January 1931 and ordered a study replacing the 305mm / 55 guns with 330 mm / 50 guns to outmatch the old Italian battleships , which carried 320mm / 45 guns . This increased displacement by 3000 tons to 26 , 500 tons , length by 2 metres , beam by 2 , 5 metres , and reduced speed to 29 . 5 knots . Two more double 130mm DP turrets were added , and the thickness of the armoured belt and decks were increased slightly . This design was approved by Parliamentary committees in early 1932 , and was ordered on October 26 , and laid down on December 24 . Responses to " Dunkerque " . The German response to " Dunkerque " was the of battleships , both laid down in 1935 . They were larger , had better armour , but nine guns of only 280 mm caliber . These guns were improved versions of the type used by the " Deutschland " - class with longer barrels and higher muzzle velocity . A heavier armament had been pre - empted by negotiations for the 1935 Anglo - German Naval Agreement . As the " Dunkerque " s were designed to withstand 280mm shells , the French saw no need for a new class in reply . Rather , it was the Italians who provoked the next class of French capital ship . On 26 May 1934 , Duce Benito Mussolini announced Italy would exercise its treaty right to build new battleships ; this was confirmed a few days later when Agenzia Stefani reported the laying down two 35 , 000 ton s . The immediate French response was to build a second " Dunkerque " with increased vertical armour . " Strasbourg " was ordered on July 16 and laid down in November . The main differences with " Dunkerque " were the thickness of the belt armor amidships ( in place of ) , of the transverse bulkheads , and the vertical armor of the main battery turrets , inducing an increase of weight , and the bridge installation incorporating the conning tower in two tiers , in the fore tower . History . Prewar service . " Strasbourg " was ordered on 16 July 1934 in response to the Italian s . The ship was laid down on the N°1 slipway of the civilian Penhoët Shipbuilding Yards , at Saint - Nazaire , which had been built to accommodate the 313 - meter long keel of the liner . She was launched in December 1936 , to be fitted out , and left Saint - Nazaire for Brest on March 15 , 1938 for her acceptance trials which were carried out , " Strasbourg " entered service in April 1939 , joining the French Atlantic Fleet , and forming with " Dunkerque " the " 1ère Division de Ligne " ( 1st D . L . ) . White bands were painted on the funnel , in March 1939 , a single one on " Dunkerque " as Division flagship , two on " Strasbourg " . After an official visit on 3 – 4 May , to Lisbon ( Portugal ) , for the commemoration of the discovery of Brazil by Alvares Cabral , both battleships , accompanied by three modern light cruisers of the 7 , 600 - ton type , forming the 4th Cruiser division , visited in late May and early June , Scottish harbours and Royal Navy bases , Liverpool , Oban , Staffa , Loch Ewe , Scapa Flow , and Rosyth , returning to Brest after a four day call at Le Havre . During the Phoney War . In the first days of September 1939 , the " Force de Raid " , under Vice Amiral d ' Escadre ( " Squadron Vice Admiral " ) Gensoul on " Dunkerque " , including the 1st D . L . , the 4th Cruiser division , and eight large destroyers was based in Brest . It sortied immediately , as German pocket battleships were reported seen , wrongly , to stop them from passing into the Atlantic . It was soon decided to split the Force de Raid into hunting groups against the German surface raiders , incorporating Royal Navy warships . In October – November 1939 , Force X , under Vice Admiral Duplat on the French heavy cruiser with " Strasbourg " , French heavy cruiser and the aircraft carrier , was based at Dakar and vainly undertook sweeps trying to find . When " Strasbourg " returned to Brest , 800 of her powder charges remained in storage at in Dakar . During the battle of Dakar , this powder was used by and was ( wrongly ) implicated in the explosion of " Richelieu " s upper turret 380 mm gun barrels . The Force de Raid was despatched , on April 2 , 1940 , to the Mediterranean to counter uncertain Italian intentions during the spring of 1940 , but , some days later , was ordered to return to Brest to provide cover for an eventual Allies ' reaction to the German landings in Norway , on April 9 , 1940 . Finally the Force de Raid was ordered to Mers - el Kebir on April 24 , 1940 . Mers - el - Kébir . The only test in battle for " Dunkerque " and " Strasbourg " came in the attack on Mers - el - Kébir , after the fall of France , from the Force H battleships , , , and though the French battleships had not been designed to confront these heavily armed battleships . In the late afternoon on July 3 , 1940 , the surprise was terrific , as , the French crews could not believe , to the last moment , that the British warships were going to fire on them , and tactically , because their ships were tightly moored , guns trained forward , while the British warships were free in their movements , at 16 , 000 m , at high sea . As the old super - dreadnought , badly stricken in her magazines , blew up , capsized and sank , killing nearly 1 , 000 seamen , painfully breaking her mooring ropes , quickly suffered four 15 - inch shell hits . The first shell bounced on the upper 330 mm turret roof , killing all the men in the right half of the turret as the left half turret remained operational , the second damaged the aircraft installations , the last ones , piercing the armored belt , damaged boilers and destroyed the electric power plant , thus the ship had to be moored on the other side of Mers - el - Kébir roadstead . " Strasbourg " , on which the commanding officer , Captain Louis Edmond Collinet , had previously ordered to carefully prepare to cast off , was luckily near missed by the shells of the British guns . At 18 . 00 , a 15 - inch salvo fell where her stern had been one minute previously . Escorted by five destroyers , she headed to the pass , then steered northeast . " Strasbourg " was then increasing speed from 15 knots to 28 knots but was hampered by damage to an air intake on the funnel , which had been blocked by a piece of flying masonry from the jetty . However she escaped the pursuit by and Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers of until about 21 . 30 . At this moment , all thirty boiler room 2 personnel were found lying unconscious , overcome by the heat and the toxic fumes , and three petty officers and two seamen had died . Passing alongside the western coast of Sardinia , " Strasbourg " reached Toulon , in the evening of the following day . Sinking at Toulon . With lost , and severely damaged , interned at Alexandria , and seized in Great Britain , only four heavy cruisers of seven , and three light cruisers of twelve under Vichy control in Mediterranean waters , and the Atlantic harbours under German occupation , a reorganisation of the Vichy French naval forces had to be carried out . The 1st ( fast battleships ) and 2nd ( slow battleships ) " Divisions de ligne " and the Atlantic Fleet were dissolved , in August 1940 and new " Forces de Haute Mer " ( High Sea Forces ) were created , with Admiral de Laborde appointed as C . in - C . , on September 25 , 1940 , and raising his flag on " Strasbourg " , after the upper part of the fore tower had to be fitted out to better accommodate an admiral staff . Vice Admiral Gensoul , though he received the fifth star of full Admiral , never got a further sea command . " Strasbourg " , though flagship of so - called High Seas Forces , nearly never went to sea , due to the stringencies of fuel supply , but to cover , in November 1940 , with two heavy cruisers , two light cruisers and some destroyers , the return to Toulon of , escorted by five new s , and abundant air cover . The two forces joined up off the Balearic Islands , and reached Toulon , on November , 8 . She received , in 1941 , three more single 13 . 2 mm Browning CAS MG , and was fitted in 1942 , with a so - called " détecteur électro - magnétique " , French ancestor of a sea and air warning radar . Four small rectangular antennæ were fitted atop the main yards of the fore tower , the starboard fore and the port after antennæ were for transmission , the other pair for reception , a different arrangement of the one fitted on " Richelieu " at Dakar , in 1941 . Early tests indicated a range against aircraft of 50 km , " Strasbourg " was still , at her moorings of the Milhaud finger piers , at Toulon when the Germans invaded the so - called " Zone libre " , in retaliation of the Allies ' landings in French North Africa . On November 27 , 1942 , when the Germans attempted to seize the French warships remaining under Vichy control , she was scuttled in the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon on November 27 , 1942 . She was refloated July 17 , 1943 by the Italian Navy , but the armistice between Italy and the Allies in September 1943 halted these activities and the ship was taken over by the Germans . On April 1 , 1944 they handed her back to the Vichy French authorities . Her wreck was then towed to the Bay of Lazaret , where she was heavily bombed by the US aircraft , and sunk , three days after the August 15 , 1944 landing , as part of the preparations for liberation of Toulon . She was raised for the second time on 1 October 1944 but found to be beyond repair , and used as a testbed for underwater explosions until condemned and renamed " Q45 " on 22 March 1955 , to be sold for scrapping on 27 May that year .