marine nationale

Never had France, since the times of Napeleon III’s Empire, had such a strong navy, with some of its ships at the cutting edge of naval technology : its Gloire class light cruisers were unmatched in the world when they were launched, and its contre-torpilleurs, its big destroyers, were capable of speeds above 40 kt, unrivaled except by light torpedo launches , its battle cruisers of the Dunkerque class and battleships of the Richelieu class were innovative designs, well capable of preserving the vital sea routes to North Africa. The man at the center of this revival was François DARLAN, who would become a key player in the Vichy collaborationist state, shown here a few days before his assassination.

And yet the French Navy of that time never lived up to the expectations. That was of course the result of the failure to fend off the Blitzkrieg. The point of the blog is neither to discuss what went wrong then, nor what could have been had it not or had France followed another path after its defeat however. I’ll just leave it there, for you, dear reader to ponder and dream about it.

There is no discussion that the « Royale » - the unofficial name French sailors give the Marine Nationale as the ministry is located Rue Royale in Paris – was first & foremost designed to control the Western basin of the Mediterranean, and, to accomplish that goal, keep open sea lines to Tunisia & Algeria against the Italian Regia Marina. Some day, perhaps, I will design a campaign about this, and the problem of safeguarding parallel sea lines of communication – the Italians had likewise to keep open communications to Libya…

BATTLESHIPS

The core of the French Navy was its battleships : at the start of the war, France had 7 commissionned capital ships : 2 old Courbet class dreadnought, 3 slightly newer Bretagne class (Bretagne, Provence, Lorraine), and 2 recent battlecruisers, Dunkerque & Strasbourg.

Fast and well armored, it sported 2 x 4 barrelled 330mm turrets forward, and her secondary battery in 3 3 x barrelled 130 mm turrets aft. Launched in 1935, she was scuttled in Toulon in 1942, but before that was severely damaged at Mers-el-Kebir. Towed back to Toulon, she was never fully repaired. This is one of my older models, and at that time I was not too  demanding on paint scheme accuracy.

A very successful design, Richelieu was a well protected, well armed, and fast ship, that could have dominated the Western Mediterranean, a role it had been intended for and yet, ironically, never fulfilled. Armed classically with 8 x 380mm guns, yet in 2 forward four barrelled turrets , and a 155mm battery of 9 guns in 3 turrets aft, it took part in the battle of Dakar that saw the Vichy French navy inflict a tactical defeat on a Royal Navy force tasked with taking control of Senegal. Repaired, refitted  and added to the Free French fleet, it joined the RN Far Eastern Fleet and was present at the battle of the Malacca Strait.

CRUISERS

Namesake of her class of 4 cruisers, she was also the sole survivor, the other three being scuttled at Toulon while she was interned at Alexandria after the 1940 Armistice. Well armed and fast, she suffered from her weak armor, which was however an improvement over that of the preceding class. Added to the Free French Navy in 1943, she spent the remainder of the war mostly in lusterless but vital sea-control missions in the South Atlantic.

ALGERIE

Successor to the Suffren class, namesake and only ship in her class, Algerie was a  well balanced ship, well armored, fast and toting the classical 8x8" guns main battery of most heavy cruisers in World War 2. Sadly enough, she never got to take part in a naval battle, and ended up scuttled at Toulon in 1942.

Part of the Dugay-Trouin class of 3, she was deployed to the Far East squadron at the start of the war, and consequently never received a Loire 130 seaplane. Well armed with 9x 155mm guns, fast, she was virtually unarmored, the thickest plates no thicker that the armor of a Panzer II. She nevertheless fought a winning battle at Koh Chang in 1941 under the command of Capitaine Bérenger, leading a motley collection of sloops and inflicting a crushing defeat on the vastly superior Siamese navy they caught at anchor. She was sunk  by US naval aviation in 1945, under the Japanese occupation of French Indochina. For all his efforts, Bérenger had to retire in 1945 as it was not commendable then to have fought under the flag of Vichy.

Gloire & Montcalm were part of a class of 6 ships built just before WW2. Very well protected, fast, and with a main battery of 9 155mm guns, they were better than German or Italian light cruisers. Half of the ships were scuttled at Toulon, of the remaining 3, Montcalm & Georges Leygue took part in the victorious defense of Dakar in 1940. With Gloire, they served after the occupation of Southern France with the Free French Navy. Montcalm intercepted a German blockade runner, and with her sisters, took part in the following Allied landings in Corsica, Normandy and Provence. These are part of my older models, and at that time I was not too  demanding on paint scheme accuracy.

DESTROYERS

Designed around 1925, the 12 torpilleurs de haute mer of the Bourrasque class were in fact powerful destroyers, toting 4 x 5.1" guns and 2 x triple torpedo mounts, with a good speed of 33 kt. Most were lost during the war, either at Toulon, or in battle, during Operation Dynamo in front of Dunkerque, or Operation Torch in front of Oran.

Vauquelin & Kersaint were part of a 6 class ships, both were scuttled at Toulon. They were big ships, ported 5 x 138 mm guns and could reach 36 kt. All ships of the class were sunk either at Toulon, or in action off Syria (Chevalier Paul) or by accident (Maiilé Brézé at Greenock).

FANTASQUE CLASS

Fantasque & Terrible were big ships, fairly similar to the Vauquelin class. Like them, they carried 5 x 138mm guns, and 2 triple torpedo mounts. Their best known quality was, however, their exceptional speed. They were deemed to be the fastest destroyers afloat at the time, Fantasque reaching  an astounding top  speed of 42.75kt.

I started collecting WW1 Micronauts with the ships present at the battle of Coronel. At the time, you couldn't find a GHQ model for SMS Nürnberg, so I substituted SMS Bremen in its stead, and acquired both HMS Canopus and SS Otranto from another manufacturer. I added HMS Defense, which barely missed being present in the South East Pacific at that time.

Coronel… A forgotten battle today, but one from which the mind recedes with horror at te image of the savagery of the combat, of its  terrifying conditions, of the horrible butcher’s bill at the end of it, of the utter absurdity of it all : 2 commanders trapped in the rigid code of honor of 19th century European aristocracy fought a battle that could but doom them and their crews to destruction : Craddock, hopelessly outmatched by the superior German squadron, Von Spee trapped by geography and logistics, fully aware that after his victory, a merciless chase would be on. And yet they fought, in the cold water of Southern Chile, in a stormy November night…

The British

Good Hope, launched in 1901, and already an obsolete design, with half of her secondary 6’’ battery out of action in moderate weather conditions, without modern targeting equipment, barely good enough to show the White Ensign in far off backwaters. Sunk with all hands.

Monmouth, throwing a heavy, but desperately outranged punch, one of the 10 County class cruisers launched in 1901. Sunk with all hands.

Glasgow, a modern light cruiser, with the punch to outfight German light cruisers and the speed to outrun Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Heavily damaged, retreated and was present for retribution at the battle of the Falklands.

HMS Defense, somewhat of an unlucky ship. Flagship of Admiral Troubridge during the Goeben chase, its squadron retreated when admiral Troubridge, who was court-martialed for his decision, wisely renounced to intercept. It could have been present at Coronel as it was ordered to join Craddock’s forces but  the order was cancelled as the Germans were still in the Pacific at that time. It met a fiery death at Jutland, the 4th Royal Navy ship lost to a magazine explosion that day.

The Germans

SMS Scharnhorst & Gneisenau, possibly the best armored cruisers ever built. Heart of the East Asian Squadron, they were also reputed to be the best gunnery specialists of the whole German Navy. The reservists on board Good Hope & Monmouth never stood a chance against them. Likewise, they were utterly outgunned, out-sped, out-armored when they had to tackle HMS Invincible & Inflexible at the Falklands, 2 battlecruisers specifically designed to destroy marauding armored cruisers.

SMS Dresden, Leipzig & Bremen (to substitute for SMS Nürnberg). Unlike their heavier brothers, they were outdated ships, sporting a light armament compared to their British counterparts. Their crews, however, like in the rest of the squadron, were top notch.  Nürnberg also gave the derelict Monmouth the coup de grâce at Coronel.

The French

Lastly, and because I cannot think of another page to display it, the French semi-dreadnought Vergniaud of the Danton class. After taking part in the battle of Antivari at the beginning of the war, the Vergniaud spent the remainder of the war in lackluster - but risky, as illustrated by the torpedoing of its sister ship the Danton, -  blockading duties. Part of the allied task force at Sebastopol during teh Russian Civil War, its crew took part in the  mutiny that affected numerous French ships in that occurrence.