By 1910, France had yet to lay down a single
dreadnought battleship; Britain had by then completed ten dreadnoughts and five
battlecruisers, with eight and three more of the two types, respectively, under construction. Germany had built eight dreadnoughts and one battlecruiser and the United States had six built and four more building. Late that year, the French Navy laid down the first of the four ships. To remedy the inferiority of the French fleet, the government passed the on 30 March 1912, authorizing a force of twenty-eight battleships, to be in service by 1920. The first three ships were to be laid down in 1912. The class were replacements for the battleships , {[ship|French battleship|Charles Martel||2}} and . They were developed from the class, and were built with the same
hulls. The primary reason for the decision to use the same hull design as the class was limitations of French shipyards. The -class ships were the largest possible ships that could fit in existing dockyards and refitting basins. The Superior Naval Council () ordered the construction department to prepare designs for a ship armed with twelve guns in six twin
gun turrets. The additional weight of the 340 mm turrets compared to the of the -class ships imposed insurmountable problems for the designers. To incorporate six turrets with the same arrangement of the earlier vessels, with four on the
centerline in
superfiring pairs and two wing turrets
amidships would have required an additional displacement as well as a significant increase in the length of the hull. After several other proposals, the Superior Naval Council chose a design with five twin turrets, all mounted on the centerline. This would achieve the same broadside of ten guns, despite the reduction in the number of guns. The width of the
armored belt was reduced by to compensate for the increased weight of the main battery. was the first ship of the class to be laid down, which she was on 21 May 1912 at the . was laid down at the shipyard in
Brest on 22 July 1912. followed at the shipyard in
St. Nazaire almost six months later on 7 November 1912. Due to the outbreak of
World War I in the summer of 1914, French industrial capacity was redirected to the army and work slowed on the ships. The
Greek Navy ordered a battleship to be named to the same design from AC de St Nazaire Penhoet. Work began in June 1914 but ceased on the outbreak of war in August and never resumed. The contract dispute was settled in 1925.
General characteristics The ships were
long at the waterline and
long overall. They had a
beam of and a
draft of between and . At the designed load, the ships displaced , and at full combat load, this increased to . The crew included 34 officers, 139
petty officers, and 1,020 enlisted men, for a total crew of 1,193. The vessels carried a number of smaller boats, including two steamboats, three patrol boats, one long boat, three
dinghies, two dinghies, two whaleboats, and two
lifeboats. The ships' propulsion systems consisted of four
Parsons steam turbines. was equipped with twenty-four
Niclausse boilers; had the same number of
Guyot du Temple boilers. was equipped with eighteen
Belleville boilers. All three ships were coal-fired. The turbines each drove a single
screw and were rated at a total of . This provided a top speed of . The four ships could carry of coal, though additional spaces could be used for coal storage, for up to . At maximum speed, the ships could steam for ; at , the range increased significantly to A further reduction in speed to correspondingly increased the range to . The ships were modified several times in the interwar period. In 1919, was equipped with a heavy tripod mast; and were given tripod masts in the early 1920s. Four of s boilers were converted to oil-firing in 1924, and half of s boilers in the rear boiler room were similarly converted in 1927. subsequently had six new oil-fired boilers to replace the rest of the old coal-fired boilers, and her direct drive turbines were replaced with Parsons geared turbines. was similarly modified in 1931–1934. s propulsion system was improved in a similar pattern. In 1935, had her center main battery turret replaced with an aircraft catapult and a hangar for three aircraft. These were initially
Gourdou-Leseurre GL-819 and
Potez 452 seaplanes, though they were replaced with the
Loire 130 flying boat. In March–May 1944, the aircraft installation was removed.
Armament The ship's main battery consisted of ten
340mm/45 Modèle 1912 guns in five twin gun turrets. The turrets were mounted all on the centerline, with two in a superfiring pair forward of the
conning tower, one amidships between the two
funnels, and two superfiring aft of the rear
superstructure. These guns had a maximum elevation of 12 degrees, with a range of ; this was a result of the Councils belief that the decisive battle range would only be and that fleets would not engage at ranges longer than . was modified in 1917 to increase the elevation of the guns to 18 degrees, which correspondingly increased the range to . and were similarly modified after the end of the war in 1919. Each gun was supplied with 100 rounds of ammunition, stored in shell rooms located beneath the
propellant magazines. A
secondary battery of twenty-two
Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1910 guns were mounted in
casemates along the length of the ship's hull. They were expected to be used offensively to attack the upper works of enemy battleships, as well as to defend against
torpedo boat attacks. The secondary battery fire control consisted of two central directors four rangefinders, which were located abreast of the superfiring turrets, fore and aft. The ships carried seven
47 mm M1885 Hotchkiss quick-firing guns. Two were placed on the conning tower and one was placed on each main battery turret. During World War I, a pair of guns were added. The ships' armament were rounded out by four
torpedo tubes. The tubes were submerged in the ships' hulls. In the interwar period, all three ships had their armament rearranged. In 1919–1920, had the four forwardmost of her 138 mm guns removed, along with the 75 mm and two of the 47 mm guns. In their place, four
75 mm mle 1897 guns were installed on the forward superstructure. Twenty-four
Hotchkiss machine guns were installed on the forecastle deck in 1927. The four rearmost 138 mm guns were removed during this refit, along with the 75 mm guns, which were replaced with eight
75 mm mle 1922 anti-aircraft guns. Sixteen
13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine guns, in quadruple mounts, were also added. had her four forward 138 mm guns removed in 1919, and was equipped similarly to . In 1931–1934, she received the same eight 75 mm guns as did, and in 1940, three quadruple mounts of 13.2 mm guns were fitted. followed a similar pattern, though in 1935, her center main battery turret was removed; an aircraft catapult was fitted in its place. At this time, four Model M1930 guns were added, along with two of the 13.2 mm quadruple mounts. In 1940, the 100 mm guns were removed to arm the new battleship , and eight 75 mm M1922 guns replaced them. In March–May 1944, fourteen and twenty-five guns in single mounts were added, and the quadruple 13.2 mm guns were removed.
Fire control The s were provided with
Barr and Stroud rangefinders. Each turret had rangefinder under an armored hood at the rear of the turret. Between the wars,
fire-control directors were added for the main, secondary and anti-aircraft armament. The rangefinder on the forward superfiring turret was replaced by a instrument.
Armor The ships' main armored belt was thick amidships and reduced to on either end of the ship. Above the belt, the secondary battery casemates were armored with thick steel plate. Horizontal protection consisted of three armored decks; the main deck was thick. The upper and lower decks were both 40 mm thick. Sloped armor thick connected the main deck to the armored belt. Each of the main battery
barbettes that housed the lower turret assemblies were armored with thick steel. The forward-most and rear-most turrets had thick sides. The superfiring turrets were less well protected, with 270 mm thick sides. The amidships turret was the most heavily armored, with thick sides. The conning tower was protected with thick armor plating. The total weight of armor was . == Ships ==