''Colbert'' was the second of four cruisers 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 interwar period she served in the Mediterranean. In 1935 she underwent a major refit at Lorient before joining the International Patrol off the Spanish south coast 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 ...

. In 1939 she was in Oran moving to Toulon in January 1940. She partook in the bombardment of Genoa in mid-June. She was in Toulon at the time of the French Armistice. She underwent a refit in 1941 to augment her light anti-aircraft guns then was placed in care and maintenance at Toulon. She was scuttled at Toulon when the Germans attempted to seize the French Fleet at the end of November 1942. She was raised and scrapped post war in 1948. She was named in honour of

Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...

(1619–1683), the Controller General of Finances under King Louis XIV from 1665 to 1683. He was responsible for bringing France out of bankruptcy, restoring the financial health of the nation and laying the foundation of the French Navy, including bases and the training of the officers and men.

Design and description

Under the 1926 program a 10,000 ton Treaty Cruiser was authorized, becoming the second ship of the . The contract for the new vessel was awarded to the

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 ...

with the order being placed on 1 March 1927. The Hull would be basically identical to the ''Suffren'' with the same level of protection and machinery layout. The differences in the layout topside would differentiate her from her sister. The raised bridge was lowered back on top of the conning position, 90 mm guns in single mounts would replace the 75 mm guns. The aircraft catapults were moved forward to between the funnels and two new cranes were fitted abeam of the second funnel. She was laid down as Project Number C1 with her hull designated as number 77 on 12 June 1927 at Brest. She was launched on 20 April 1928. She continued to fit out until ready for her contractor trials on 15 June 1929. With acceptance from the contractors she underwent acceptance trials on 29 August. She was commissioned on 11 November 1929 On 10 May 1930 she partook in a Naval Review celebrating 100 years since the arrival of the French in Algeria at Algiers. She was finally completed on 4 March 1931.

Service history

Pre war service

On 1 April 1931 she entered service with La Marine National and was assigned to the First Light Division of the First Squadron at

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 ...

. She carried out normal peacetime operations until 1935. In February 1935 she proceeded to

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 ...

and started a major refit on 16 February which lasted until January 1936. On 12 April 1937 the First Light Division was renamed as the First Cruiser Division and consisted of ''Colbert'', , and . On 27 May 1937 she was present at the Great Naval Review at Brest following Naval Maneuvers with the Mediterranean and Atlantic Squadrons. Upon returning to the Mediterranean she was assigned to the International Patrol off the south coast of Spain. The international Patrol had been formed to protect merchant shipping from piracy instituted by unknown (probably Italian) submarines.

Wartime service

At the beginning of the war she was in Toulon. In December she sailed with for

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 ...

, Tunisia. On 8 December after forming the Second Cruiser Division both ships sailed to monitor shipping as far east as

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. She returned to Bizerte on 28 December. In January 1940 she joined Force Y arriving at

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

on 30 January to replace Force X. The first sortie was from 18 to 28 February. She was due to participate in the second sortie from 6 to 18 March, but was sent on 7 March to reinforce Force X consisting of the battleship and cruiser ''Algérie'' escorting gold to Canada. She returned to Dakar when completed. Force Y left Dakar on 11 April 1940 and returned to Toulon. On the night of 13/14 June she participated in Operation ''Vado'', the bombardment of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

and Vado, Italy by the Third Squadron. The Vado Group included the cruisers ''Foch'' and ''Algérie'' and the Genoa Group included the cruisers ''Dupleix'' and ''Colbert''. The bombardment cause little damage as Group Genoa fired at the wrong target and half of Group Vado shells fell into the sea. The squadron returned to Toulon by mid-day on 14 June. ''Foch'' suffered a steering malfunction but returned safely. On 25 June the Franco-German Armistice took effect and La Marine Nationale ceased all offensive operations. On 3 July with the ill-conceived British

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 battleship had escape undamaged, the Fourth Cruiser Division had sailed from

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

. The Fourth failed to link up with ''Strasbourg'' so they sailed for Toulon. ''Algérie'', ''Foch'' and ''Colbert'' with twelve contre-torpilleurs sailed from Toulon to rendezvous with the French forces sailing north to France. They linked up with the Fourth in the early morning of 4 July and returned to Toulon. ''Strasbourg'' arrived later that evening. In August 1940 ''Colbert'' underwent a refit to upgrade her light anti-aircraft weapons. The quad 13.2 mm machineguns were finally installed during this refit. When completed she was placed in care and maintenance with a reduced crew. On 1 January 1941 she was activated to replace ''Dupleix'' in the Forces de haute mer. On 11 November 1942 the Germans started their occupation of Vichy France. The

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) was a printed British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. It contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World. The final printed issue of British ''F ...

was ready to sail to North Africa to defend it from the

Torch landings Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American arm ...

but was denied permission to sail. By 27 November they had reached Toulon and entered the base. The Germans were delayed from entering the naval dockyard, giving the French sailors time to scuttle the fleet. ''Colbert'' was at Dock No. 5. Her guns were spiked with 35 kg charges that were successfully detonated, destroying the guns, and the sea cocks were opened, leaving ''Colbert'' to settle on the bottom. Fire took hold of the ship and she burned until 3 December. ''Colbert'' was raised after the war, and scrapped between 1946 and 1947.Whitley, Suffren Class, p. 33

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

203 mm/50 (8in) Model 1924 naval gun

90 mm/50 (3.5 in) Model 1926 naval gun

37 mm/50 (1.46 in) Model 1933 naval gun

13.2 mm(0.5 in) machinegun Model 1929

French Pre-war Torpedoes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colbert (1928) World War II warships scuttled at Toulon 1928 ships World War II cruisers of France