French Battleship Richelieu - Background and Genesis

Background and Genesis

The first modern battleship of the French Navy, Dunkerque, was ordered in 1932. Dunkerque was designed to outclass the German "pocket battleship" Deutschland, which had been laid down in 1929. The German Reichsmarine had ordered two similar units to Deutschland in 1931–32, Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee, which outgunned all existing heavy cruisers. Only HMS Hood, and the two Renown class battlecruisers could catch Deutschland and her sister-ships.

Dunkerque had a displacement of 26,500 tons, and was armed with eight 330 mm guns. She had a speed of 29.5 knots, and protection able to resist the Deutschland's 280 mm shells. These specifications were well below the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty limits of 35,000 tons and 406 mm (16 in), making Dunkerque much weaker than battleships built around 1920. The French Government stayed within these limits not wishing to jeopardize the efforts of the United Kingdom to obtain more drastic naval armament limitations in the disarmament negotiations conducted by the League of Nations, from 1926 to 1932.

Germany then ordered two units in February 1934, first announced as part of the Deutschland class. These were laid down in May–June 1935, just after Adolf Hitler has announced German rearmament in violation of the Versailles Treaty, and just before the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau emerged as fast battleships, heavier (31,800 tons) than Dunkerque and much better armored, armed with nine improved guns, still of 280 mm caliber. Italy believed that the Dunkerque class broke the balance between the battleship fleets in Western Mediterranean, and so in May 1934 announced the building of two 35,000 tons battleships, armed with nine 381 mm guns. The French reaction was to order, on July 16, 1934, a second Dunkerque class ship, Strasbourg, and to plan the first French 35,000 ton battleship.

Eight days later, on July 24, 1934, the Conseil Superieur de la Marine, French equivalent of the Board of Admiralty, defined the characteristics of the new French battleships as follows :

• displacement: 35,000 tons standard
• main armament:eight/nine guns of 380/406 mm calibre
• secondary armament: to be capable of fire against surface targets and long -range anti-aircraft fire
• speed: 29.5–30 knots
• protection; belt 360 mm; upper armored deck 160 mm; lower armored deck 40 mm; underwater protection as Dunkerque

Thirteen months later, the Service Technique des Constructions navales, (S.T.C.N.) (French equivalent of the Royal Navy's Department of the Director of Naval Construction) established a definitive project. It was submitted to the Minister 14 August, adopted 31 August, and became Richelieu – laid down 22 October 1935. France in turn abrogated naval limitation Treaties, in that 88,000 tons of new battleships had been ordered between 1922 and December 31, 1936, against a limit of 70,000 tons allowed by the 1922 Treaty of Washington and the 1930 Treaty of London. However, on June 18, 1935, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement had been signed by the United Kingdom unilaterally, and the Third Reich. This canceled de facto the limitations of the Treaty of Versailles regarding displacement of various types of warships, and granted Germany a total tonnage for the Kriegsmarine equal to 35% of the total tonnage of the Royal Navy. France had become unable to counter both German and Italian Navies, as the Versailles and Washington Treaties allowed. France believed the Dunkerque battleship class was the answer to the Scharnhorst battleship class, and the Richelieu class battleships the answer to the Italian battleships Littorio and Vittorio Veneto .