The Richelieu was a battleship of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She served during World War II, on the Vichy Regime side, notably fending off an Allied attempt on Dakar, and later with Allied forces in the Indian Ocean in 1944 and 1945. She was used during the Indochina War, and served into the 1960s.

Design

Derived from the Dunkerque class, Richelieu and Jean Bart, as well as the unfinished Clemenceau and Gascogne, were designed to counter the growing threat of the Italian Navy. Their speed, armour, armament and overall technology were state of the art and compared favourably to contemporary rivals. The turret arrangement for the main battery of eight 380 mm guns was unusual, with two 4-gun turrets located forward.

In the context of the Treaty of Washington, the quadruple arrangement had the advantage of saving weight on turret armouring, compared to four double turrets, while retaining the same firepower. The drawback was that a single lucky shot immobilising one of the turrets would effectively put half the main artillery out of action. On the other hand, the entirety of the main artillery was able to fire forwards, as the ship closed in to her enemy, in an angle where she made the smallest possible target.

The Richelieu class, with their 380 mm main artillery, were the most powerful battleships ever built in France.

The keel was laid in October 1935 in Brest. Richelieu was launched in January 1939, and sea trials began in January 1940.

Service entry and Vichy years

After the decisive German offensive in the Battle of France broke through the French defences on the Somme and Aisne, the incomplete Richelieu (Captain Marzin) hastily left Brest, on 18 June 1940, narrowly escaping the advancing German forces. She sailed under her own power, escorted by the Adroit class destroyers Fougueux and Frondeur, arriving at Dakar on 23 June 1940. The local political conditions prompted her transfer to Casablanca two days later, shadowed by a powerful British battle group. She returned to Dakar on 28 June and, although only 95% complete, she was commissioned there on 15 July 1940.

The armistice between France and Germany prompted British anxiety that the French Navy would be taken over by the Axis Powers. This led to attacks by Swordfish torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes on 8 July 1940, after the attack on the French fleet at Mers el-Kebir. A torpedo hit below the armoured deck disabled the starboard propulsion shaft on Richelieu and flooding caused her stern to touch bottom. She was pumped out after a few days, however, and made seaworthy for emergencies.

On 24 September, Richelieu fought against Allied naval forces at the Battle of Dakar. There was a gunnery duel between Richelieu and the British battleship HMS Barham: the Barham was hit twice by secondary batteries and the Richelieu was struck by two 15” shells, causing no serious damage. The Richelieu was further damaged in the battle when a 380 mm shell blew back and disabled two guns in the number 2 main turret: this was traced to the use of the wrong type of propellant. The British force was beaten off.

Temporary repairs were completed by 24 April 1941 and Richelieu could sail on three engines at , but with only three usable main guns — there had been then another explosion in a 380 mm gun.

Allied service

After French forces in Africa joined the Allies in November 1942, Richelieu sailed for refitting at the New York Navy Yard on 30 January 1943

Aeronaval equipment (hangar, catapults and crane) was dismantled and replaced with a radar. The space thus spared was used to mount 40 mm anti-aircraft guns on the rear deck. The overall anti-aircraft armament was massively reinforced, with 48 20 mm AA guns in single mount replacing the original 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine guns, and 14 quad 40 mm turrets replacing the original 37 mm semi-automatic guns. Adoption of US-pattern secondary batteries made providing ammunition easier; a special factory had to be assembled to manufacture ammunition of the appropriate calibre for the main battery. One of the main telemetres was removed, and the rear mast was shortened. The refit was declared complete on 10 October 1943. Richelieu sailed for Mers el-Kebir on 14 October and thence to Scapa Flow, arriving on 20 November.
Richelieu served with the British Home Fleet from November 1943–March 1944, participating in an operation off the Norwegian coast in January 1944. She was then transferred to the British Eastern Fleet to cover for British battleships undergoing refit. This was despite reputedly strong anti-Gaullist sympathies on board and limitations with her radar and ammunition (only available from US sources). She arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on 10 April 1944, in time to join the attack by Task Force 65 on Sabang on 19 April (Operation Cockpit) and on Surabaya in May 1944 (Operation Transom) and on Operations Councillor and Pedal in June. On 22 July, she sailed to attack Sabang and Sumatra (Operation Crimson) and returned to Trincomalee on the 27th.

Relieved by HMS Howe, Richelieu returned to Casablanca on 7 September for a major refit, arriving back at Trincomalee on 20 March 1945. Now with Task Force 63 of the British East Indies Fleet, she joined in more bombardments of Sabang in April and of the Nicobar Islands in late April to early May. The next operation, to intercept the Haguro, was abortive.
Richelieu refitted at Durban in from 18 July to 10 August, and arrived via Diego Suarez at Trincomalee on 18 August, learning of the Japanese surrender on 15 August. She left Trincomalee on 5 September to participate in the liberation of Singapore, Operation Tiderace. While passing down the Straits of Malacca on 9 September, at 07:44 a magnetic mine detonated to starboard. She eventually limped into Singapore at noon on 11 September.

Post-war

In late September 1945, Richelieu escorted a French troop convoy to Indochina to re-establish French colonial rule and bombarded shore targets in the First Indochina War. On 29 December, she sailed for France and arrived in Toulon on 11 February 1946.

There were visits to Britain and Portugal in 1946 and she carried the French President on a tour of French African colonies in April and June 1947. She stayed in home waters until 16 October 1948, when she was withdrawn from active service for refit and subsequent use as a gunnery training ship.
From 25 May 1956, she was used as an accommodation ship in Brest, and placed in reserve in 1958. The Richelieu was condemned on 16 January 1968 and renamed Q432. She was scrapped by Cantieri Navali Santa Maria of Genoa in September 1968. One of her guns is on display in the harbour of Brest.

See also

• Richelieu (1873)