France, De Grasse-Class
FN. Colbert (C-611)
With the onset of the cold war, France still possessed a number of cruisers and a modernized battleship (Jean Bart), which provided cover for its aircraft carriers. In 1946 his last unfinished pre-war cruiser, De Grasse, was launched, completely redesigned and converted into a modern anti-aircraft cruiser with command facilities. Soon the design was considered successful, the Admiralty ordered in 1953 a sister ship at the Brest Arsenal, to be named Colbert.
The new cruiser was finally completed in 1959, three years after de Grasse, with a very similar layout and gunnery. The two cruisers operated for years as fleet escorts until their paths parted with the advent of the missile age. The De Grasse became a command ship for nuclear experiments in the Pacific, while the Colbert was taken over from 1968 to 1970 to be completely rebuilt as a missile cruiser, the only one in the French Navy. She served through the rest of the cold war, a well-known French Navy ambassador around the world with the other cruiser in the fleet, the Jeanne d'Arc helicopter cruiser until the end of the cold war. She was later decommissioned and anchored at Bordeaux for her second life as a museum ship.