french battleship line has been listed in the wiki world of warships

On the way back, she escorted a convoy with Canadian soldiers. In December, Dunkerque transported 100 tons of gold across the Atlantic to be used as payment under military orders. That same year, in November, amid a violent storm, Dunkerque and the British battleship Hood set out on a hunt for German Scharnhorst-class battleships. In Autumn 1939, Dunkerque and her sister ship Strasbourg operated in the Atlantic against the German 'pocket' battleships Deutschland and Admiral Graf Spee. When World War II broke out, Dunkerque was unusually in demand since at that time the Allies didn't have other modern high-speed battleships capable of countering German raiders.

The maximum speed of the new French battleship exceeded 30 knots which made her an extremely dangerous hunter for cruisers. On the way back, the battleship and cruiser escorted transports with 82 warplanes on board that were purchased in the U.S.A.īattleship Dunkerque and Hood in The North Sea, November 1939īattleship Dunkerque was commissioned in 1937, becoming the forerunner of a new generation of battleships with powerful guns, good armor and, most importantly, high speed. Bretagne and Algérie delivered 147 tons of gold from Toulon to Halifax that was then used to pay for the French government's military contracts placed in the U.S.A. That is why using warships as carriers of the precious metal was more than justified. The German submarines were stalking them from below, and the Kriegsmarine raiders-battleships and cruisers-often went out to hunt. In March–April 1940, Bretagne and heavy cruiser Algérie, as part of the special Force X, fulfilled an unusual mission to carry gold across the Atlantic Ocean. The biggest naval base of the French Navy on the Atlantic coast is also located in Brest. She was named in honor of Bretagne-a historical province in the north-west of France, where the largest centers of shipbuilding are situated, in Lorient and Brest. Battleship Bretagne and Cruiser Algérie Are Crossing the Atlantic, March 1940īattleship Bretagne was commissioned in 1916.

French battleship line has been listed in the wiki world of warships