The Courbet-class battleships were the first dreadnoughts built for the French Navy before World War I. The class comprised four ships: Courbet, France, Jean Bart, and Paris. All four ships were deployed to the Mediterranean Sea for the entirety of World War I, spending most of their time escorting French troop convoys from North Africa and covering the Otranto Barrage. An Anglo-French fleet led by Courbet succeeded in sinking the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser Zenta in the Battle of Antivari. Jean Bart was torpedoed in the bow by U-12 on December 21st 1914, but she was able to steam to Malta for repairs.
Specifications[]
- Type: Battleship
- Service Period: 1913-1945
- Characteristics:
- Length: 544 feet 7 inches (166 meters)
- Beam: 88 feet 7 inches (27 meters)
- Draft: 29 feet 8 inches (9.04 meters)
- Displacement: 23,104 tons (Full Load); 25,175 tons (Full Load)
- Crew: 28 x Belleville water-tube boilers, 4 x Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, 4 x shafts, 28,000 shp (21,000 kW)
- Propulsion: 4,200 nautical miles (7,778.4 kilometers) at 10 knots (18.52 km/h)
- Speed: 21 knots (38.9 km/h)
- Armament:
- 12 x 305mm/45-caliber Modèle 1910 naval guns (6x2)
- 22 x 138.6mm/55-caliber Modèle 1910 casemate guns (22x1)
- 4 x 47mm/40-caliber Modèle 1902 Hotchkiss guns (4x1)
- 4 x 18" Modèle 1909 torpedo tubes (2x2)
- Armour:
- Belt: 11-inches (279.4 mm)
- Deck: 3-inches (76.2 mm)
- Turrets: 11.4-inches (289.6 mm)
- Barbettes: 11-inches (279.4 mm)
- Conning Tower: 11.8-inches (299.7 mm)
Unit Run[]
- MN Courbet - scrapped in 1945.
- MN France - Foundered on August 26th 1922 after hitting a rock in Quiberon Bay
- MN Paris - scrapped in December 1945
- MN Jean Bart - renamed MN Ocean - Decommissioned 1945, sold for scrapping on December 21st 1955