French Dreadnoughts: Reboot

Hi again!!

French Dreadnoughts

I had drawn these back in 2013, although not to a standard I'd consider worthy of them now. Unfortunately, the old drawings were used by David Latuch for his excellent upgrades and top-downs, whose value I explicitly don't want to diminish in any way; whatever shortcomings these might have are solely rooted in my basic drawings.

1.Courbet-class:

France needed till 1910 to lay down her first dreadnought type battleship, having blocked her shipbuilding capacity with the obsolete Dantons for years. Owing to the limited size of existing docking facilities, the French dreadnoughts were very compact ships with rather short hulls; they were very carefully designed internally to mount 12 305mm and 22 138mm guns and still carry armour protection similar to early British dreadnoughts; maximizing the protected areas was emphasized, and the 270mm belt was relatively narrow, but most of the hull was covered with 180mm plating. Speed was modest at 20 knots, and seakeeping was indifferent, owing to the very short forecastle. Two vessels were laid down in 1910 (Courbet and Jean Bart alongside each other at the Brest Navy yard), two in 1911 on private yards (Paris at FCM in the Mediterranean, France at the Loire-Penhoet yard in St.Nazaire). All four ships were nearly identical, necessitating funnel bands for ID. Courbet's was around the forefunnel.
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The only difference between Courbet and Jean Bart was the latter's old-fashioned goose-neck crane, making her the most readily distinguishable unit of her class. Her ID band was around the center funnel.
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Paris and France had the same crane as Courbet and differed only by the location of the steam tube at the forefunnel (both to the port side, but nearly obscured by the funnel on France when looking from the starboard side; on Paris, the steam tube was further aft and better visible from the starboard side) and aft funnel (forward of the funnel on Paris, aft on France). As both were commissioned after the start of the Great War, they probably did not receive funnel bands for security reasons; I have not found any photographs of them in their as-built state that show any.
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Wartime modifications were few. Larger rangefinders were mounted very early, late 1914 or early 1915 at the latest; these required some minor changes to the bridgework. Turrets and casemates were blackened from 1916; on Courbet, so was the CT (she at least is the only ship of which a photo with an all-black CT exists).
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Late in the war, the masttops were also blackened; on Jean Bart, the upper part of the CT received the same treatment. In 1917 or 1918 the funnel bands were re-introduced.
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This time, Paris and France also received funnel bands; France two around the forefunnel, Paris two around the middle one. There are no photographs showing black CTs on either ship. Only Paris received an additional pair of searchlights between the forward funnels.
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Courbet had her mainmast shortened immediately after the war to enable her to carry a kite balloon or a blimp; this required some re-rigging and repositioning of the aft searchlight. She also received four additional searchlights on a new platform immediately abaft the middle funnel.
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France was lost by stranding in 1922 before any additional modifications were implemented.
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The others were further modified in the 1920s and 1930s, but these alterations are outside the scope of this post.

2. Bretagne-class:

The follow-up-class to the Courbets were unique among all battleships of that era in that they used virtually the same hull shape and size of their predecessors. Docking facilities don't seem to have been improved. Their architecture was much more conventional, with masts of equal height and two funnels between them, making them somewhat more handsome than the downrightly ugly Courbets. They received (even) heavier armament, consisting of ten 340mm guns arranged along the centerline, with Q turret mounted very high on the amidships superstructure. Unlike the Courbet's 305mm guns, which were very powerful specimens, the 340mm guns of the Provences were markedly inferior to their British pendants, even the early ones on the Orion-class. They fired rather light shells (550 kg), and due to very limited gun elevation, they had the shortest range of all superdreadnoughts worldwide (only 14.500 meters maximum). Despite this, broadside weight of the main battery increased from 4.450 to 5.500 kg. Secondary armament remained the same at 22 138mm guns, although these were arranged more evenly along the ship's broadside. Armour was slightly reduced (the main belt was made shallower, and the upper belt and ends were thinned to 160mm) to compensate for the added weight of the armament; the hulls were actually half a meter shorter and displaced marginally less. Sources conflict on whether the belt was also thinned to 250mm. Seakeeping and speed were similarly poor as on their predecessors The Courbets were already unbalanced, trading speed and protection for firepower; the Bretagnes were even worse in this respect and can hardly be considered a satisfactory capital ship design. But they were what France could afford at that time. Three units were laid down in 1912: Bretagne at the Brest Navy Yard, Provence at the Lorient Navy Yard and Lorraine at Loire-Penhoet in St.Nazaire.

Although Bretagne was the official class ship, Provence completed first in June 1915, three months before her sister. Both had torpedo nets when commissioned. Bretagne could be distinguished by her steam tubes (one abaft the forefunnel, one forward of the rear funnel) and by having square windows in her charthouse instead of round portholes like the other two; the arrangement of hatches and portholes on the amidships superstructure also differed. The design of the rear end of the boat deck was different on all three.
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Provence had the locations of the steam tubes inversed (before the forefunnel and abaft the after funnel) and was unique among her class by having the platforms around the mainmast mounted lower than the other two.
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Lorraine completed almost a year after her sisters (the navy yards seem to have been exempted from having their workforce drafted into the army) had a steamtube before the aft funnel, but none at the forward funnel; she also had different cranes than the other two, and her boarding ladder boom was mounted farther forward. By the time she joined the fleet, torpedo nets had already been abandoned, and she never received any. She seems to have received two ID bands around the forefunnel some time before the war ended.
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The written sources I have access to do not mention the addition of AA guns during the war; photographs however show two (likely 75mm) on the forecastle deck athwartships the bridge on Bretagne...
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... and one deck higher on Provence. Other modifications were not implemented during the war.
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And before anyone asks: No, I am sorry to announce that there will not be any drawings depicting their WWII guise. None by me, anyway. I've decided to concentrate on the pre-1918 timeframe as far as real ships are concerned.

Greetings
GD

Shipbucket

French Dreadnoughts: Reboot

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