Richelieu class
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| Richelieu class | |
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| Overview | |
| Type: | Battleship |
| Name origin: | Cardinal Richelieu |
| Units: | planned: 4, completed: 2: Richelieu (1939), Jean Bart (1940) |
| Technical specifications | |
| Displacement: | Draft: 35,000 t Construction: 40,927 t |
| Length: | over everything: 248 m |
| Width: | Standard: 35 m Jean Bart after conversion: 37 m |
| Draft: | Draft: 9.70 m |
| Speed: | Continuous load: 29.5 kn Test drive Richelieu : 32 kn |
| Crew: | 1280 men |
| Range: | 8,500 nm at 14 kn |
| Drive: | 4 propellers over 4 shafts; 150,000 wave horsepower |
The Richelieu-class ships , two of which ( Richelieu and Jean Bart ) were completed, were the last and largest battleships in the French Navy . The third ship of the class, the Clemenceau, was keeled (January 17, 1939), but her torso was sunk on August 27, 1944. The class was developed under the impression of the Littorio class built by Italy .
planning
The plans for a new type of battleship for the French Navy were initially subject to the restrictions that had been imposed on France at the naval conferences . The construction freeze agreed in 1930 expired in 1935, and an upper limit of 35,000 tons empty weight was agreed for new buildings in 1936 . The armament was initially not allowed to exceed a caliber of 14 inches (356 mm), but an "escalation clause" in the London Fleet Agreement allowed the increase to up to 16 inches.
The planners therefore had to design a ship that was as fast and well-armored as possible on the basis of the fixed weight limit and the planned 380 mm (15 inch) armament. By combining the gun barrels in fewer turrets than usual, as had already been done with the Dunkerque with its 330 mm guns, and using space-saving machinery, it was nevertheless possible to design effective, modern armor protection for the new class of ship .
technology
Propulsion system
The Richelieu class received Sural Indret steam boilers . These boilers, built by Indret, generated steam under higher pressure than comparable models using an innovative pressure line system based on a development from Switzerland. As a result, they had such a good performance-to-size ratio that the machine systems delivered a comparable performance at only ¾ the size of the machines in the German Bismarck class .
Each of the six burners under the steam boilers was supplied with air by a Rateau compressor system. The fuel reached the burners already preheated, and the water that was to be made to evaporate also flowed warmed up into the boiler so that it could be converted into steam much more quickly.
Four turbines converted the steam pressure supplied by the boilers into mechanical energy. They were manufactured by Parsons-Rateau and delivered around 150,000 wave horsepower (WPS) in normal operation , but could develop up to 180,000 WPS when overloaded. Under full load, the engines propelled a ship of the class up to 32 knots via the four propellers , the normal output was 29.5 knots.
Both the boiler and turbine areas were divided into two watertight areas in order to avoid the total failure of all machines in the event of damage.
Two generators connected to the main engines delivered 1500 kW each for the electrical systems, an independent diesel generator another 1000 kW and two small emergency generators each 150 kW.
Armor protection
For the armor protection of the Richelieu class , the planners wanted to protect the vital ship systems from 380 mm grenades and 500 kg bombs dropped from heights of up to 5000 meters. The armor protection system that had been used on the predecessor class, the Dunkerque class , was largely copied .
The armored citadel, a box that protected machinery and the ammunition bunker inside the ship, could be kept rather short compared to other ships due to the lack of heavy turrets at the stern and did not extend the entire length of the ship. The ratio of the length of the ship, measured at the waterline, to the length of the armored citadel is given for the Richelieu class as about 55%.
The citadel was 131 meters long. The vertical armor, the belt armor , was almost 6 meters high (between the two armored decks) and consisted of steel plates 330 mm thick, backed with wooden panels 60 mm thick (no composite armor), slightly lined at the bottom (reduced in thickness ). This side armor was drawn in at an angle of 15 ° 24 'downwards, so that it only rested on the upper edge of the ship's outer wall, but at the level of the waterline it ran further inside the ship and thus created an artificial expansion space on the outside similar to an integrated torpedo bulge. Below this belt armor met the downward and outward sloping outer area of the lower armored deck, with which the side armor arrangement was arranged like a "V" when viewed from the front.
The weather deck and the intermediate deck were protected with thin, additionally hardened and therefore rather flexible steel layers of up to 24 mm. Then the upper armored deck followed at main deck level. It only existed above the citadel area with protective armor made of 150 mm to 170 mm armor steel. Finally the lower armored deck followed just above the waterline. In the areas in which it was below the upper armored deck, it had a thickness of 40 mm to 50 mm armor steel, but extended almost the entire length of the ship and was reinforced to 100 mm aft, over rudders and propellers to 150 mm and at the end continued vertically downwards in the same thickness behind the rudder. The front of the citadel (transverse bulkhead) in front of tower A was 355 mm thick, the end (behind the last 152 mm tower) 233 mm thick. The longitudinal tank bulkheads were 30 mm thick, were thinned to 20 mm above the lower armored deck, and reached 50 mm aft.
The barbeds of the two main turrets were each protected with a composite of 405 mm + 30 mm armor steel of different hardness, thinned to 80 mm in the lower area. The armor of the towers themselves was 430 mm thick at the front. The 170 mm thick tower ceiling was flattened on the sides with an embankment that was 195 mm thick. The sides of the towers were each protected with 300 mm armor steel. Tower A had a 270 mm thick rear wall, while tower B was 260 mm thick.
The barbeds of the 152 mm towers were armored with 100 mm steel, the tower fronts 130 mm, the tower ceilings 70 mm and the tower backs 60 mm thick. The armored command post, immediately behind Tower B, in which the command personnel and the most important controls were located during a battle, had armor protection of 360 mm on all sides, which was only reduced to 280 mm on the rear. The roof was reinforced with 170 mm armored steel.
The weight of the armor on the Richelieu reached around 16,500 t, about 37% of the total weight.
Structural protection
To protect important ship systems from being hit by torpedoes or sea mines , the vertical armor was reinforced in these areas on the underside with torpedo bulges and bulkheads . Although these bulges were integrated into the hull, they could be destroyed or flooded without endangering the ships' buoyancy. They had a maximum width of 2 meters on each side of the ship and were supposed to absorb the energy of a torpedo explosion of 300 kg of TNT . Behind this artificial expansion room were the fuel bunkers, shielded from the inside and outside by a thin layer of armored steel. Behind it followed a narrow, empty compartment, which was also thinly armored, and only then did the engine rooms follow. Thus, additional space was made available to also intercept the explosion energy that reached beyond the torpdeo bulge into the ship's interior. The total width of the torpedo protection reached 5 to 7 meters on each side. This protection was later reinforced on the Jean Bart so that it widened the ship by 2 meters.
In addition to the armored bulkheads , which divided the torpedo bulge into individual longitudinal sections, parts of the bulge were filled with a water-repellent ebonite compound. This system was also used in the weakly armored forecastle, outside the torpedo bulge, to fill a compartment with this plastic, so that in the event of a severe water ingress in the area, there should still be enough buoyancy to prevent sinking.
The entire interior of the ship was divided into about 20 watertight compartments, which were separated by bulkheads made of armored steel. Effective underbody protection through additional armor, as would have been necessary to reduce damage from magnetically detonated torpedoes or mines, was not planned.
Armament
Note: The armament of the ships in the area of air defense changed several times. Only the original equipment condition around 1940 is described here. The information on the later individual changes are explained in the articles on Richelieu and Jean Bart .
Main artillery
For the main armament, it was decided for the first time in French battleship construction for the caliber 380 mm. The choice fell on the type 380 mm / 45 Modèle 1935, four of which were placed in a tower. The ships of the Richelieu class each received two of these towers, which were erected on the forecastle, based on the model of the British Nelson class . This saved a lot of weight that would have accrued from armoring four turrets and the associated ammunition chambers. Each tower still weighed about 2274 tons. The setup on the foredeck naturally restricted the field of fire through the superstructure, so that each tower could only pivot about 150 ° to starboard or port .
The guns were not installed independently in the turrets, but rather set up in pairs of twins, separated from each other by a 45 mm thick armored bulkhead, so that in the event of a hit or an accident not all four but only two guns would be lost. Each tower also had two independent powder and grenade bunkers, so that the risk of total loss was also reduced here.
The highest rate of fire per gun was 2.2 rounds per minute, but shortly after completion in 1940 only an average speed of 1.33 rounds was determined because the ammunition feed was too slow. The maximum range, depending on the type of ammunition and the propellant charges used , was between 37,000 and 41,000 meters.
For each gun 104 shells could be carried, so that the total supply for eight guns amounted to 832 shells.
The French designers did not succeed in stabilizing the tubes with a gyroscope , but limited themselves to servomotors to align the guns.
Middle artillery
152 mm guns of the type 152 mm / 55 Modèle 1936 were chosen as secondary armament. Here, too, the designers broke new ground by choosing a multi-purpose gun that could be used against both sea and air targets. These guns were placed in three towers, each with three gun barrels behind the superstructure and could engage targets that extend from the side or aft approached.
Each tower had separate feed shafts for anti-aircraft ammunition as well as for ammunition against sea targets, so that it could be changed quickly if necessary. The gun barrels could be loaded regardless of the aiming angle, which could reach up to 75 ° and, with modifications after the war, even 85 °. The maximum range with armor-piercing ammunition was just under 27 km.
The Modèle 1936, however, had a comparatively low rate of fire with only five rounds per minute , so that they were rather unsuitable for defense against fast aircraft .
Air defense
Originally, the 152 mm guns were supposed to take over the defense against distant or high-flying air targets. As a result of the inadequate performance of this new type of gun, it was decided to erect only three 152 mm turrets and to use the older 100 mm / 45 Modèle 1930 for air defense. Twelve of these guns were built on the Richelieu class and placed amidships in six twin mounts .
The 100 mm / 45 Modèle 1930 achieved a maximum rate of fire of ten rounds per minute under optimal conditions and could shoot targets at a height of up to 10,000 meters. The rate of fire actually achieved was, however, well below this value. The ammunition was supplied from the bunkers of the 152 mm artillery and adjacent rooms via a horizontal transport system that ran along under the armored deck. An ammunition elevator broke through the armored deck on the port and starboard sides and delivered the grenades to the upper deck. The target stock of stored anti-aircraft ammunition was around 3500 100 mm shells.
The light anti-aircraft armament for short range defense consisted of 37 mm L / 50 machine guns CAD Modèle 1933, twelve of which in six double guns were set up. Each of these weapons could fire 42 rounds per minute. The theoretical range was around 7000 meters. Against the background of the ever-increasing threat from the air, the weapon type was viewed as inefficient and from 1943 onwards it was replaced by 20-mm Oerlikon cannons and 40-mm Bofors cannons .
In addition, heavy machine guns with caliber 13.2 mm of the Hotchkiss 13.2 mm / 76 Modèle type were installed in 1929 . There were 24 of these weapons in the Richelieu class, divided into double and quadruple mounts. The small projectile mass and the limited range of 4200 meters were also insufficient for the defense of modern aircraft, and since the corresponding caliber was not common among the other Allies, they were replaced by 20-mm Oerlikon cannons when the ships were repaired and modernized .
Reconnaissance, rangefinder
Reconnaissance aircraft
The Richelieu class was initially not intended for radar . The reconnaissance at greater distances should be carried out by airplanes. To this end, two were on the aft catapults erected over which the aircraft of type Loire 130 should be started. Two reconnaissance aircraft could be carried in one hangar, two more reconnaissance aircraft on the catapults and, if necessary, another on the roof of the hangar. The planes could not land on the ship after their return, which is why they were designed as flying boats , so they landed on the sea and were then brought back on board the battleship with a crane . There was an elevator that could bring the planes from the bulwark deck to catapult height.
radar
France had started developing its own radar system, but it wasn't available until 1941. This radar from Sadir , officially known as "détection électro-magnétique" (DEM), was a unit consisting of two type ME410 transmitters in the combat tower and two type ME126 receivers in the aft superstructure. The device worked with a wavelength of 200 cm and could detect soaring aircraft (over 1500 m) up to 80 km away. Larger ships could be located up to a distance of around 20 km with an accuracy of around 500 m. The system was installed on the Richelieu in several stages from February to May 1941 . In 1943 it was replaced by a comprehensive set of American and British equipment. The Jean Bart received radar only in the course of the final equipment in 1953, but comprehensively modern equipment of the post-war generation, partly based on American and British technology.
Range finder
The fire control of Richelieu consisted of seven Hauptleitgeräten: Two of the 380 mm artillery (the bottom of the stack master encoder system to the turret and another in the aft superstructure), three for the 152-mm-towers (the top two of the stack Leitgeber on the battle tower and another on the chimney structure) and two for the 100 mm anti-aircraft gun (on both sides of the bridge). The stereoscopic rangefinders had basic lengths of 14 m for the 380 mm artillery (four times, in each tower and each master transmitter), 8 m and 6 m for the 152 mm artillery (four times 8 m, in each tower and in the middle of the Stack ladder, and twice 6 m, in the upper stack ladder and in the control unit on the chimney superstructure) and 4 m for the 100 mm anti-aircraft armament. For the light flak, there were four control units with 150 cm optics for the 37 mm weapons and four with 100 cm optics for the 13.2 mm weapons, with two other identical copies being used for navigation.
When the Richelieu was rebuilt in 1943, the top fire control device in the stacking ladder on the battle tower was removed without replacement. The new flak received corresponding American control devices (14 type Mk.51 for the 40-mm Bofors quadruplets and local Mk.14 vision devices on the 20-mm Oerlikon).
Richelieu class ships
Of four planned Richelieu-class ships, only two were completed to seaworthiness before German troops occupied the production sites in the summer of 1940 .
Richelieu
The Richelieu was laid down in October 1935 and launched in 1939. 24 hours before the arrival of German troops in Brest , the ship fled to Dakar , only 95% completed . When American troops landed in North Africa at the end of 1942, the Vichy France associations there joined the Allies. The Richelieu was repaired and modernized in the USA and served in the North Sea and the Pacific until the end of the war. She was then used in the Indochina War and finally became a training ship for the French Navy in 1958, before being scrapped in La Spezia in 1968 .
Jean Bart
The Jean Bart was laid down in December 1935 and launched in March 1940. Only 75% completed, it ran from Saint-Nazaire to Casablanca in June 1940 to avoid confiscation by German troops. At the end of 1942 she was badly damaged in battles with American ships and could not be made operational until 1945. After its final commissioning and modernization, it was used during the Suez Crisis in 1956 and scrapped in La Spezia in 1969 .
Clémenceau
The Clémenceau was laid down in Brest on January 17, 1939 . She was built in the same dock as the Richelieu , and construction began a few hours after her sister ship was launched. When the shipyard was occupied by German associations in June 1940, the hull was largely without any interior fittings. Since a prefabricated was planned for the German Navy, the ship was the battleship R designates. When it was decided in December 1941 that further construction of the ship would not take place for the time being, the Hulk was finally undocked and anchored near the German submarine bunker . In August 1944, Allied combat aircraft attacked the ships in the enclosed city at their anchorages several times in order to prevent them from being sunk by the German defenders in the port entrance in order to block them. The unfinished hull of the Clémenceau was sunk. It was lifted in 1948 and later broken up.
Gascony
The Gascony should get some changes compared to her sister ships. For example, tower B should be relocated to the stern in order to achieve a larger field of fire. However, as a result of the events of the war, construction did not begin, but the material provided was confiscated by the Wehrmacht and a short-term prefabricated building was considered. Therefore, the ship was speculative as Battleship S referred.
Effects
- Many of the design features of the Richelieu-class were important factors in the decisions the German Navy made when planning the Bismarck- class. During his testimony at the Nuremberg Trials , the German Grand Admiral Raeder mentioned that the choice of the 38 cm caliber for the main guns of the Bismarck was essentially based on the fact that the French used this caliber for the Richelieu .
- The US plans for future battleship newbuildings, which should begin when the fleet contract expires, also took the Richelieu class into account . So it was incomplete knowledge of their high speed, which also caused the American planners to tend towards a rather fast battleship type.
literature
- Robert Dumas: Le cuirassé Richelieu 1935–1968. Marines édition, Bourg-en-Bresse 1992, ISBN 2-909675-00-9 .
- René Sarnet, Eric Le Vaillant: Richelieu. Marines édition, Nantes 1997, ISBN 2-909675-32-7 .
- Eric Gille: Les bâtiments de ligne de 35000 tonnes type Richelieu. In: Cent ans de cuirassés français. Nantes 1999, ISBN 2-909675-50-5 , p. 143 ff.
- Ives Buffetaut: La carrière du Richelieu de 1943 à 1945. In: Gilles Garidel (Ed.): Marines Hors Serie Spécial "Marine Française 1943–1945". Bourg-en-Bresse 1995, p. 61ff.
- For use in World War II: RAdm. Paul Auphan, Jacques Mordal: The French Navy in World War II. US Naval Institute, Annapolis 1959.
- About the renovation in New York: René Sarnet, Eric Le Vaillant: Le Richelieu ira à New York. MARINES guerre & commerce, Vol. 48 (March / April 1997), pp. 15ff. (with historical color photos)
- Regarding the aircraft on board: Lucien Morareau: Le Loire 130. Lela Presse, Outreau 2006, ISBN 2-914017-38-3 , with details on the use especially on Richelieu p. 144ff.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ David and Hugh Lyon; Siegfried Greiner: Warships from 1900 to today, technology and use . Buch und Zeit Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Cologne 1979, p. 82 .
- ↑ a b Энергетическая установка ( memento from April 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Russian, viewed August 14, 2009
- ^ William Garzke, Robert O. Dulin, Alan Raven: Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-101-3 , pp. 468-469.
- ^ William Garzke, Robert O. Dulin, Alan Raven: Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-101-3 , p. 101.
- ^ Norman Friedman, AD Baker, WJ Jurens: Naval Firepower. US Naval Inst Press, 2007, ISBN 1-59114-555-4 , p. 244 ff.
- ↑ http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNFR_15-45_m1935.htm navyweapons.com sighted August 12, 2009
- ^ William Garzke, Robert O. Dulin, Alan Raven: Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-101-3 , p. 17.
- ↑ http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNFR_6-55_m1930.htm navyweapons.com sighted August 12, 2009
- ↑ http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNFR_39-45_m1930.htm navyweapons.com sighted on August 12, 2009
- ↑ http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNFR_37-50_cail_m1933.htm navyweapons.com sighted August 12, 2009
- ↑ http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNFR_13mm_aamg.htm navyweapons.com sighted on August 12, 2009
- ^ Robert Dumas: Le cuirassé Richelieu. Bourg-en-Bresse 1992, p. 13; Lucien Morareau: Le Loire 130. Outreau 2006, p. 144 ff.
- ^ Robert Dumas: Le cuirassé Richelieu. Bourg-en-Bresse 1992, pp. 36/37; René Sarnet / Eric Le Vaillant: Richelieu. Nantes 1997, p. 137/138 with further data and examples of radar detection exercises
- ↑ http://www.netmarine.net/g/bat/richelieu/misealeau.htm Netmarine homepage, viewed on August 12, 2009
- ^ Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary ( memento June 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) RAF.MOD.UK, bombercommand history, viewed on August 14, 2009
- ↑ http://site.voila.fr/warshipsdesign/Home/France/clemenceau/clmencea.htm?0.2975749812184164 Private homepage, French, Clemenceau, viewed August 12, 2009
- ^ Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1921–1997 - Internationaler battleship construction, Bernd & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 2002, ISBN 3-7637-6225-6 , p. 230
- ↑ Nuremberg Trial, Thursday, May 16, 1946, morning session, "... now France was building 38 cm ships in the" Richelieu type "and we decided to also build 38 cm ships ..."
- ^ William H. Garzke, Robert O. Dulin, Thomas G. Webb: BATTLESHIPS. United States Battleships 1935-1992. Revised and Updated Edition. Naval Institute Press, 1995, ISBN 1-55750-174-2 , pp. 346, 347.