The ''Bretagne''-class battleships were the first "

super-dreadnought The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", ...

s" built for the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The class comprised three vessels: ''Bretagne'', the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

, ''Provence'', and ''Lorraine''. They were an improvement of the previous , and mounted ten guns instead of twelve guns as on the ''Courbet''s. A fourth was ordered by the

Greek Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; , abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence ...

, though work was suspended due to the outbreak of the war. The three completed ships were named after French provinces. The three ships saw limited service during World War I, and were primarily occupied with containing the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

. After the war, they conducted training cruises in the Mediterranean and participated in non-intervention patrols off Spain during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. After the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the ships were tasked with convoy duties and anti-commerce raider patrols until the fall of France in June 1940. ''Bretagne'' and ''Provence'' were sunk by the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

during the

Attack on Mers-el-Kébir The attack on Mers-el-Kébir (Battle of Mers-el-Kébir) on 3 July 1940, during the Second World War, was a British naval attack on French Navy ships at the naval base at Mers El Kébir, near Oran, on the coast of French Algeria. The attack was ...

the following month; ''Provence'' was later raised and towed to

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

, where she was again scuttled in November 1942. ''Lorraine'' was disarmed by the British in Alexandria and recommissioned in 1942 to serve with the

Free French Naval Forces The Free French Naval Forces (, or FNFL) were the naval arm of the Free French Forces during the Second World War. They were commanded by Admiral Émile Muselier. History In the wake of the Armistice and the Appeal of 18 June, Charles de Ga ...

. She provided gunfire support during

Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil), known as Débarquement de Provence in French ("Provence Landing"), was the code name for the landing operation of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15Augu ...

, the invasion of southern France, and shelled German fortresses in northern France. She survived as a gunnery training ship and a floating barracks until the early 1950s, before being broken up for scrap in 1954. ''Bretagne'' and ''Provence'' were scrapped in 1952 and 1949, respectively.

Design

By 1910, France had yet to lay down a single

dreadnought battleship The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", ...

; Britain had by then completed ten dreadnoughts and five

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...

s, with eight and three more of the two types, respectively, under construction. Germany had built eight dreadnoughts and one battlecruiser and the United States had six built and four more building. Late that year, the French Navy laid down the first of the four ships. To remedy the inferiority of the French fleet, the government passed the ''Statut Naval'' on 30 March 1912, authorizing a force of twenty-eight battleships, to be in service by 1920. The first three ships were to be laid down in 1912. The ''Bretagne'' class were replacements for the battleships ''Carnot'', ''Charles Martel'' and ''Liberté''. They were developed from the ''Courbet'' class, and were built with the same hulls. The primary reason for the decision to use the same hull design as the ''Courbet'' class was limitations of French shipyards. The ''Courbet''-class ships were the largest possible ships that could fit in existing dockyards and refitting basins. The Superior Naval Council () ordered the construction department to prepare designs for a ship armed with twelve guns in six twin

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...

s. The additional weight of the 340 mm turrets compared to the of the ''Courbet''-class ships imposed insurmountable problems for the designers. To incorporate six turrets with the same arrangement of the earlier vessels, with four on the

centerline Center line, centre line or centerline may refer to: Sports * Center line, marked in red on an ice hockey rink * Centre line (football), a set of positions on an Australian rules football field * Centerline, a line that separates the service cour ...

in superfiring pairs and two wing turrets amidships would have required an additional displacement as well as a significant increase in the length of the hull. After several other proposals, the Superior Naval Council chose a design with five twin turrets, all mounted on the centerline. This would achieve the same broadside of ten guns, despite the reduction in the number of guns. The width of the

armored belt Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers. The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating to t ...

was reduced by to compensate for the increased weight of the main battery. ''Provence'' was the first ship of the class to be laid down, which she was on 21 May 1912 at the ''

Arsenal de Lorient Naval Group is a major French industrial Corporate group, group specializing in navy, naval defense industry, defense design, development and shipbuilding, construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris. Heir to the French naval dockyards ...

''. ''Bretagne'' was laid down at the ''Arsenal de Brest'' shipyard in Brest on 22 July 1912. ''Lorraine'' followed at the ''

Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire (ACL) was a French shipbuilding company of the late 19th and early 20th century. The name translates roughly to English as "Workshops and Shipyard of the Loire". Early years In the eighteenth century Nantes ...

'' shipyard in St. Nazaire almost six months later on 7 November 1912. Due to the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in the summer of 1914, French industrial capacity was redirected to the army and work slowed on the ships. The

ordered a battleship to be named ''Vasilefs Konstantinos'' to the same design from AC de St Nazaire Penhoet. Work began in June 1914 but ceased on the outbreak of war in August and never resumed. The contract dispute was settled in 1925.

General characteristics

The ships were

long at the waterline A vessel's length at the waterline (abbreviated to L.W.L) is the length of a ship or boat at the level where it sits in the water (the ''waterline''). The LWL will be shorter than the length of the boat overall (''length overall'' or LOA) as mos ...

and

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

. They had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of between and . At the designed load, the ships displaced , and at full combat load, this increased to . The crew included 34 officers, 139

petty officer A petty officer (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies. Often they may be superior to a seaman, and subordinate to more senior non-commissioned officers, such as chief petty officers. Petty officers are usually sailors that have ...

s, and 1,020 enlisted men, for a total crew of 1,193. The vessels carried a number of smaller boats, including two steamboats, three patrol boats, one long boat, three

dinghies A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they diffe ...

, two dinghies, two whaleboats, and two lifeboats. The ships' propulsion systems consisted of four Parsons

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s. ''Bretagne'' was equipped with twenty-four Niclausse boilers; ''Lorraine'' had the same number of Guyot du Temple

boilers A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central ...

. ''Provence'' was equipped with eighteen

Belleville boiler There have been a vast number of designs of steam boiler, particularly towards the end of the 19th century when the technology was evolving rapidly. A great many of these took the names of their originators or primary manufacturers, rather than a m ...

s. All three ships were coal-fired. The turbines each drove a single

screw A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

and were rated at a total of . This provided a top speed of . The four ships could carry of coal, though additional spaces could be used for coal storage, for up to . At maximum speed, the ships could steam for ; at , the range increased significantly to A further reduction in speed to correspondingly increased the range to . The ships were modified several times in the interwar period. In 1919, ''Bretagne'' was equipped with a heavy tripod mast; ''Provence'' and ''Lorraine'' were given tripod masts in the early 1920s. Four of ''Bretagne''s boilers were converted to oil-firing in 1924, and half of ''Provence''s boilers in the rear boiler room were similarly converted in 1927. ''Bretagne'' subsequently had six new oil-fired boilers to replace the rest of the old coal-fired boilers, and her direct drive turbines were replaced with Parsons geared turbines. ''Provence'' was similarly modified in 1931–1934. ''Lorraine''s propulsion system was improved in a similar pattern. In 1935, ''Lorraine'' had her center main battery turret replaced with an aircraft catapult and a hangar for three aircraft. These were initially Gourdou-Leseurre GL-819 and

Potez 452 The Potez 452 was a French flying boat designed and built by Potez in response to a French Navy specification for a shipboard reconnaissance machine for use on its battleships and cruisers. Design The design requirements included the ability fo ...

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

s, though they were replaced with the

Loire 130 The Loire 130 was a French flying boat that saw service during World War II. It was designed and built by Loire Aviation of St Nazaire. Development The Loire 130 originated from a mid-1930s requirement from the French Navy for a reconnaissan ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

. In March–May 1944, the aircraft installation was removed.

Armament

The ship's main battery consisted of ten 340mm/45 Modèle 1912 guns in five twin gun turrets. The turrets were mounted all on the centerline, with two in a superfiring pair forward of the

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...

, one amidships between the two

funnels A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...

, and two superfiring aft of the rear

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

. These guns had a maximum elevation of 12 degrees, with a range of ; this was a result of the Councils belief that the decisive battle range would only be and that fleets would not engage at ranges longer than . ''Lorraine'' was modified in 1917 to increase the elevation of the guns to 18 degrees, which correspondingly increased the range to . ''Bretagne'' and ''Provence'' were similarly modified after the end of the war in 1919. Each gun was supplied with 100 rounds of ammunition, stored in shell rooms located beneath the

propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or another motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicle ...

magazines. A

secondary battery A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of Accumulator (energy), energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a ...

of twenty-two Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1910 guns were mounted in

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...

s along the length of the ship's hull. They were expected to be used offensively to attack the upper works of enemy battleships, as well as to defend against

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

attacks. The secondary battery fire control consisted of two central directors four rangefinders, which were located abreast of the superfiring turrets, fore and aft. The ships carried seven 47 mm M1885 Hotchkiss quick-firing guns. Two were placed on the conning tower and one was placed on each main battery turret. During World War I, a pair of guns were added. The ships' armament were rounded out by four

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s. The tubes were submerged in the ships' hulls. In the interwar period, all three ships had their armament rearranged. In 1919–1920, ''Bretagne'' had the four forwardmost of her 138 mm guns removed, along with the 75 mm and two of the 47 mm guns. In their place, four 75 mm mle 1897 guns were installed on the forward superstructure. Twenty-four Hotchkiss machine guns were installed on the forecastle deck in 1927. The four rearmost 138 mm guns were removed during this refit, along with the 75 mm guns, which were replaced with eight 75 mm mle 1922 anti-aircraft guns. Sixteen

13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun The Hotchkiss 13.2 mm machine gun (), also known as the Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun (''Mle 1929'', ''Mle 1930'', etc.), was a heavy machine gun, primarily intended for anti-aircraft use, designed and manufactured by French arms manufacturer ...

s, in quadruple mounts, were also added. ''Provence'' had her four forward 138 mm guns removed in 1919, and was equipped similarly to ''Bretagne''. In 1931–1934, she received the same eight 75 mm guns as ''Bretagne'' did, and in 1940, three quadruple mounts of 13.2 mm guns were fitted. ''Lorraine'' followed a similar pattern, though in 1935, her center main battery turret was removed; an aircraft catapult was fitted in its place. At this time, four Model M1930 guns were added, along with two of the 13.2 mm quadruple mounts. In 1940, the 100 mm guns were removed to arm the new battleship ''Richelieu'', and eight 75 mm M1922 guns replaced them. In March–May 1944, fourteen and twenty-five guns in single mounts were added, and the quadruple 13.2 mm guns were removed.

Fire control

The ''Bretagne''s were provided with

Barr and Stroud Barr & Stroud Limited was a pioneering Glasgow optical engineering firm. They played a leading role in developing modern optics, including rangefinders, for the Royal Navy and other branches of British Armed Forces during the 20th century. There ...

rangefinder A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to Length measurement, measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, suc ...

s. Each turret had rangefinder under an armoured hood at the rear of the turret. Between the wars, fire-control directors were added for the main, secondary and anti-aircraft armament. The rangefinder on the forward superfiring turret was replaced by a instrument.

Armor

The ships' main armored belt was thick amidships and reduced to on either end of the ship. Above the belt, the secondary battery casemates were armored with thick steel plate. Horizontal protection consisted of three armored decks; the main deck was thick. The upper and lower decks were both 40 mm thick. Sloped armor thick connected the main deck to the armored belt. Each of the main battery

barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...

s that housed the lower turret assemblies were armored with thick steel. The forward-most and rear-most turrets had thick sides. The superfiring turrets were less well protected, with 270 mm thick sides. The amidships turret was the most heavily armored, with thick sides. The conning tower was protected with thick armor plating. The total weight of armor was .

Ships

{, class="wikitable plainrowheaders" , + Construction data ! scope="col" , Ship ! scope="col" , Builder ! scope="col" ,

Laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

! scope="col" , Launched ! scope="col" , In Service ! scope="col" , Fate , - ! scope="row" , ,

Arsenal de Brest The Brest Arsenal () is a collection of naval and military buildings located on the banks of the river Penfeld, in Brest, France. Timeline *1631–1635 – Beginning of the foundations of the port infrastructure. *1674 – Appearance of the P ...

, Brest , 22 July 1912 , 21 April 1913 , 10 February 1916 , Sunk by the

at Mers-el-Kébir, 4 July 1940 , - ! scope="row" , ,

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...

, 7 November 1912 , 30 September 1913 , 10 March 1916 ,

Scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on i ...

beginning January 1954 , - ! scope="row" , ,

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

, 21 May 1912 , 20 April 1913 , 1 March 1916 , {{indented plainlist, *

Scuttled Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...

, 27 November 1942 * Refloated, 11 July 1943 * Scuttled at Toulon a second time, 1944. The Germans sank her remaining hull as a blockship after stripping her of everything in 1943. * Wreckage scrapped in 1949 , - ! scope="row" , ''Vasilefs Konstantinos'' , Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Saint-Nazaire{{sfn, Mach, p=384 , 12 June 1914{{sfn, Mach, p=384 , , , Work halted, August 1914{{sfn, Mach, p=384

Service history

All three ships of the class entered service with the French Navy in 1916. ''Bretagne'' and ''Lorraine'' were assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Battle Squadron, while ''Provence'' served as the fleet

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

for the entirety of the First World War. They were deployed to guard the southern end of the

, based in

Argostoli Argostoli (, Katharevousa: ) is a town and a municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is one of the three municipalities on the island. It has been the capi ...

and

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

, to block a possible sortie by the Austro-Hungarian fleet. The three ships largely remained in port, though ''Provence'' was repeatedly used to intimidate the government of Greece, which favored Germany during the war.{{sfn, Whitley, p=42 In January 1919, after the end of the war, ''Lorraine'' was sent to

Cattaro Kotor (Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a town in Coastal region of Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,347 and is the administrative cen ...

to guard the Austro-Hungarian fleet. She joined her sisters in

in June 1919; later that year the ships formed the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet until 1921.{{sfn, Whitley, p=43 Financial problems forced the French Navy to reduce its battleship force to four active vessels. ''Lorraine'' and ''Provence'' were reduced to reserve status in 1922, and the latter went into drydock for a major overhaul.{{sfn, Whitley, p=43 ''Lorraine'' returned to service with the Mediterranean Squadron in 1923.{{sfn, Whitley, p=44 ''Bretagne'' remained in service and conducted training cruises in the Mediterranean and along the coast of North Africa during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1934, ''Bretagne'' and ''Provence'' were assigned to the 2nd Squadron, based on France's Atlantic coast. In 1936, they joined the non-intervention patrols off Spain during the

.{{sfn, Whitley, p=43 At the outbreak of

in September 1939, ''Bretagne'' and ''Provence'' were based in Toulon with the 2nd Squadron, while ''Lorraine'' was assigned to the Atlantic Squadron.{{sfn, Whitley, pp=43–44 Provence-1

After undergoing a refit in the early months of the war, ''Provence'' conducted anti-raider patrols with Force Y, based in

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

. ''Bretagne'' was also overhauled early in the war; in March 1940 she escorted a convoy to Halifax and returned with another convoy loaded with aircraft for the French Air Force. She was then ordered to join ''Lorraine'' in Force X, to be based in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

to operate in concert with the British

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...

. Two weeks later, ''Bretagne'' was instead ordered to steam at high speed to

Bizerte Bizerte (, ) is the capital and largest city of Bizerte Governorate in northern Tunisia. It is the List of northernmost items, northernmost city in Africa, located north of the capital Tunis. It is also known as the last town to remain under Fr ...

, to join the Force de Raid with ''Provence''. The ships put in at Mers-el-Kébir and remained there until after the fall of France in June 1940.{{sfn, Whitley, p=44 To prevent the ships of the French Navy from falling into the hands of the occupying Germans, British

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

ordered the neutralization of all French warships.

Force H Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in late-June 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place ...

was to deliver an ultimatum to the ships based at Mers-el-Kébir; on 3 July, the British squadron arrived outside the harbor and demanded that the ships sail with them to Britain or they would be sunk.{{sfn, O'Hara et al., pp=31–32 The British and French negotiated for several hours, and culminated in the British opening fire on the French fleet. In the span of ten minutes, ''Bretagne'' was sunk and ''Provence'' was badly damaged.{{sfn, O'Hara et al., p=32 ''Bretagne'' was hit by at least four {{convert, 15, in, abbr=on shells from {{HMS, Hood, 51, 6, {{HMS, Resolution, 09, 2 and {{HMS, Valiant, 1914, 2 and exploded, killing the vast majority of her crew. ''Provence'' was set on fire and sank to the bottom of the harbor,{{sfn, Whitley, p=44 though she was subsequently raised and transferred to Toulon, where she was later scuttled in 1942 to prevent her from being seized by the Germans. They nevertheless salvaged the ship starting in July 1943.{{sfn, Roberts, p=257 Two of her main guns were emplaced as coastal batteries outside Toulon. ''Lorraine'' was disarmed in Alexandria until December 1942, when she joined the

. She served as a training ship for much of 1943 until a major refit at the end of the year to prepare her to participate in

, the invasion of southern France. She provided gunfire support during the landings before steaming to Britain for a minor refit. She remained in Britain until March 1945, when she bombarded German-held fortresses in northern France.{{sfn, Whitley, p=44 After the end of the war, ''Lorraine'' served as a gunnery training ship in Toulon. She was then used as a

barracks ship A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sai ...

until February 1953, when she was stricken from the

naval register A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

and sold for scrapping at the end of the year. She was broken up for scrap outside Toulon the following year. ''Bretagne'' remained at the bottom of Mers-el-Kébir until she was raised for scrapping in 1952 and broken up. ''Provence'' was raised in April 1949 and scrapped.{{sfn, Whitley, p=44

Footnotes

{{reflist, 20em

References

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