Shipbucket

Designed in the 1930s, the De Grasse class was three "Improved La Galissoniére" light cruisers: De Grasse, ordered in 1937 and the Chateaurenault and Guichen in 1938 (the latter two ships were cancelled). This class was intended to be faster than earlier classes and had a modified aircraft arrangement (two catapults and a hangar were placed amidships). Work on De Grasse was suspended with the invasion of the German army in 1940. De Grasse was captured by the Germans in April 1942. The Germans began planning to convert De Grasse to a light aircraft carrier, provisionally named II, but the work was stopped in February 1943 for due to a lack of materials and manpower as well as the threat of air attacks in Lorient. Construction of De Grasse was restarted again in 1946 and soon stopped as the French considered modernizing the design. Construction was resumed again in January 1951. In June 1954 incomplete ship sank at shipyard after she had been floated out with open sea-cocks, and De Grasse’s completion was delayed again.
Specifications (1938 design)
Displacement: 8000 tons standard, 11,431 tons full load
Dimensions: Length 180.4 m, beam 18.6 m, draught 5.5 m
Machinery: two-shaft steam turbine, 4 boilers, 110,000 hp (82,000 kW)
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Armament:
9 × 152 mm guns (3 turrets)
6 × 100 mm guns (3 twin turrets)
8 × 37 mm guns
8 × 13.2 mm machine guns
6 × 550 mm torpedo tubes
Armour
Belt: 100 mm
Deck: 38 mm
Turrets: 100 mm
Conning tower: 95 mm
Aircraft: 2 catapults, 2 seaplanes
Crew: 691
wikipedia.org

De Grasse1938:

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French Vice-admiral Louis-René-Madeleine Le Vassor de La Touche, comte de Tréville
The original spelling of my last name is: LaTouche.

They would've been beautiful ships for sure!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Agreed, but the final design was rather nice too.

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My Avatar is
French Vice-admiral Louis-René-Madeleine Le Vassor de La Touche, comte de Tréville
The original spelling of my last name is: LaTouche.

Great drawing David,

What was the idea for the crane on the stern that appears to have nothing to do?

It appears to be for float-plane retrieval . . . I forgot to add the rails on the quarterdeck.

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My Avatar is
French Vice-admiral Louis-René-Madeleine Le Vassor de La Touche, comte de Tréville
The original spelling of my last name is: LaTouche.

Hmmm...quite ok, but only so, sofar. The French had a practise to reverse the directions of their above-water TT:s, i.e. one mounting would face forward and the other to the rear. It had to do with the loading mechanism and practise. I believe de Grasse would have had the same arrangement. Second: where did you get the underwater hull from? It does not agree with my sources at all; especially the aft floatplane, and I have the 1935, 1938 and 1942 versions to compare with.

So, for me to "sign" this off, I'd like you to present your sources for how you choose to draw it.

Of course as a drawing it's quite unbeatable, but that I don't need to tell you, right?!?

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My Avatar:Петр Алексеевич Безобразов (Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov), Вице-адмирал , царская ВМФ России(1845-1906) - I sign my drawings as Ari Saarinen

A very nice drawing, to me the 1938 design looks better than the final 1939 design.

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Another great drawing of French warship!

I will heartily second that.

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My Avatar is
French Vice-admiral Louis-René-Madeleine Le Vassor de La Touche, comte de Tréville
The original spelling of my last name is: LaTouche.

Bezo,

You were quite correct the first referent drawing I used was inaccurate. I redrew the underwater hull following Bruno Gire's Drawing. I just corrected the posting.

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My Avatar is
French Vice-admiral Louis-René-Madeleine Le Vassor de La Touche, comte de Tréville
The original spelling of my last name is: LaTouche.