The first half of the 20th century between the two wars is a truly interesting time in terms of maritime engineering history. When there was a turning point in the minds of the designers, and then it was reinforced with a Washington kick, then very interesting ships began to appear.
Although I still believe that, had it not been for Washington, our military history would have taken a completely different path. And perhaps this path would have been more progressive than the one that we passed, swam.
The First World War died down. As a result, France and Italy found themselves in a very interesting position. Italy suddenly became a tough regional power after the collapse of Austria-Hungary, while France, on the contrary, dropped to this level, since the British clearly commanded the Atlantic after the war and the French had nothing to catch there.
The Mediterranean Sea remained, where both countries tried to realize their ambitions. With dreadnoughts and battle cruisers (in particular), both countries did not work, and the fleets took on a very original shape.
Both the French and Italians hastily set up a fairly impressive number of destroyers, destroyer leaders, and counter-destroyers. And since it was necessary to fight with the built ships, both sides came to projects of light and fast cruisers with 150 mm artillery.
In the previous article, we examined "Emile Bertin", which became a trial balloon for the French, and the Italians had the "Condottieri" project, which will be ahead of us.
Politically, all this looked very strange, because in the First World War France and Italy were like allies, and in the Second … During the Second World War it did not work out either. Moreover, this confrontation looked very funny if it were not so sad. And, nevertheless, it (opposition) gave rise to many beautiful and really good ships.
So we will start in the thirties, when the French and Italians built very nice cruisers, spitting on battleships and battle cruisers. And now we will talk about the next step after "Emile Bertin".
So, by the 30s of the last century, there was a picture: a fast and not heavily armored cruiser with 150-mm guns, capable of catching up with a destroyer and explaining the truth of life to him. Inexpensive, technologically advanced, so that you can build in series. But the main thing is inexpensive.
On the one hand, the experiment with "Emile Bertin" cannot be considered successful. On the other hand, the French shipbuilders saw a light at the end of the tunnel, that is, they understood in which direction to move.
And as a result of this movement, 6 new La Galissonniere-class cruisers joined the ranks of the French fleet. Planned 7, but "Chateau Renault" was not ordered, Washington restrictions played a role.
What is La Galissoniere? This is Emile Bertin, which has gone through thoughtful error correction. We will talk about performance characteristics a little lower, but for now it is worth noting that the cruisers turned out, and they turned out to be even more powerful than the Italian ones. The French had at least one barrel of the main caliber more, 9 versus 8.
The series came out well, very patriotic, judging by the way the names of the ships were chosen.
La Gallisonniere - in honor of Roland-Michel Barren de La Galissoniere, winner of the Battle of Menorca in 1756. The battle was, let's say, not entirely straightforward, but it is believed that the British were hung in it.
Jean de Vienne - in honor of the admiral of France Jean de Vien. He was a very restless admiral, fought all his life against the whole world, died in the battle of Nikopol (Bulgaria) in a battle with the Turks in 1396.
"Georges Leig" - in honor of the politician of the Third Republic
Montcalm - in memory of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran, commander of French troops in North America during the Seven Years War.
"Marseillaise" - understandably, the anthem of France.
"Gloire" - "Glory".
In general, it is very bright and patriotic, but let's see what the ships were in terms of characteristics.
Displacement. Standard - 7600 "long" tons, full - 9100 d. Tons. The ship is noticeably "thicker" than "Emile Bertin".
Length 172 m. Width 17, 48 m. Draft 5, 1 - 5, 35 m. That's just for not the deepest Mediterranean Sea, it turned out very well. One could safely go even to the Adriatic, where the sea did not spoil the depth.
Armor. It is luxurious here, the armor, unlike its predecessor, was simply there. Good, bad - she WAS!
Belt - 105 mm.
Traverses - from 20 to 60 mm.
Deck - 38 mm.
Barbettes - from 75 to 95 mm.
Towers - from 50 to 100 mm.
Cutting - from 50 to 95 mm.
The armor is not splinterproof, it could well reflect the 120-130-mm shell of the destroyer, if you're lucky. Of course, not God knows what is in numbers, but also not a complete absence, as in "Emile Bertin", you must agree.
Engines. 2 TZA from "Parsons" (classic), or exotic, but their own "Rateau Bretagne". Both the first and the second produced about 84,000 liters. sec., which ensured a speed of 31 knots. Let's put it this way: not really excellent, but enough.
Cruising range of 7000 nautical miles cruising at 12 knots. For the Mediterranean - well, more than. Without refueling from Toulon to Latakia - quite.
The crew is 540 people. In wartime, with an increase in emergency teams and air defense crews - up to 675 people.
Armament.
The main caliber is 9 152 mm guns in three turrets, two at the bow and one at the stern.
Auxiliary universal caliber - 8 universal 90 mm guns in four turrets. Plus 4 coaxial machine-gun installations from "Hotchkiss" caliber 13, 2 mm. As modest as that of Emile Bertin.
The mine-torpedo armament was represented by two twin-pipe 550-mm torpedo tubes.
Aviation group - 1 catapult, 2 seaplanes. Up to 4 aircraft could be taken, but disassembled.
About seaworthiness. The cruisers were successful. They were all very popular and were not subject to vibration at high speeds, over 30 knots. All as one, the ships easily kept the design speed of 31 knots, but if you really needed it, you could get more.
So, on tests "La Galissonniere" issued 35, 42 knots. "Marseillaise" - 34.98 knots, and the fastest was the "Gloire", showing a maximum speed of 36.93 knots.
Tests confirmed the cruisers' cruising range, everything fit into the calculated data.
Learn more about weapons.
The main artillery was identical to the Emile Bertin. 152, 4-mm M1930 shell-loading guns were housed in the 1930-type Marine-Omkur-type turrets.
Two towers were located in the bow of the cruisers, linearly elevated, the third in the stern. The bow towers had firing angles of 135 ° per side, the stern towers - 145 °.
The guns were placed in individual cradles and had vertical guidance angles from −7 ° to + 45 ° for the bow and stern towers and from −10 ° to + 45 ° for the elevated bow tower. The loading of the guns was carried out at an angle of inclination of the barrel from −5 ° to + 15 °.
The towers were guided remotely using electric drives. The practical rate of fire is 5-6 rounds per minute per barrel. The maximum rate of fire was shown by the Gloire during firing in 1938 - 9 rounds per minute per barrel. Of course, the real combat rate of fire was much lower, in the region of 2-4 rounds per minute.
In general, in terms of the main caliber, everything was quite confident and modern.
Flak. The same 90mm M1926 guns as on the Emile Bertin with the same problems.
On the one hand, the semiautomatic bolt and automatic projectile rammer, which were unitary, theoretically gave a rate of fire of up to 15 rounds per minute. However, at elevation angles of more than 60 °, loading problems began and the rate of fire dropped significantly. In general, as a means of air defense, 90-mm universal guns were not very good.
But each cruiser carried eight such guns in twin mounts, protected from shrapnel by shields 5 mm thick. The placement of the installations is also not very good. As an anti-mine caliber, 90-mm guns were quite, but as an anti-aircraft defense not very much, since practically the bow and stern of the ship were outside the firing zones.
Anti-aircraft fire control of 90-mm guns was carried out remotely, from two command and rangefinder posts. The firing data was generated by two sets of anti-aircraft fire control devices of the 1930 model using two 3-meter rangefinders. In practice, the system proved to be unreliable, and the shooting was conducted autonomously, which, as you understand, did not add any efficiency at all.
The only advantage was the (theoretical) ability to fire from 90-mm guns at two different targets or directions.
With small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery, everything was still sad since the days of "Emile Bertin". The promised 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun was never mastered, so it was necessary to plug the hole with the same 13, 2-mm "Hotchkiss".
And so, this machine gun, was not a masterpiece of weapons thought, and with power from 30-cartridge magazines, it was in general horror. But not for enemy pilots, but for their own calculations. So four coaxial installations of these machine guns cannot be considered a good solution, but alas, there was nothing else.
In general, as of the beginning of the war, the air defense of cruisers could not even be considered satisfactory.
Armor. The numbers at the top are in numbers, but the armor was not just, but the armor of La Galissoniera could become the standards in the class. The Germans have always been famous for their clever booking layout, the British tried to take a thick one. It turned out to be something in between, and it seemed like they did not skimp on steel, and placed it very cleverly. The so-called practice of variable thickness played a role, making the cruisers highly protected ships, while not greatly increasing the weight of the ship.
But, I repeat, unlike the Emile Bertin, the builders were not greedy here, and as a result, the total weight of the armor was 1460 tons, or 24% of the ship's standard displacement.
The main armor belt was 105 mm thick, but 60 mm was made to the bottom. In the bow and stern, the width of the armor belt became less by 2 meters, but with the same thickness. Behind the armored belt on the sides were armored bulkheads 20 mm thick. These bulkheads served as anti-torpedo (weak) and anti-fragmentation protection.
From above, the citadel was closed from shrapnel by an armored deck with a thickness of 38 mm.
The main battery turrets, unlike their predecessor, were very good. No wonder the mass of one La Galissoniera tower weighed 172 tons, while that of Emile Bertin - 112 tons.
The thickness of the frontal part of the tower was 100 mm, the side ones - 50 mm, the rear - 40 mm, the roof had a thickness of 50 mm. The barbets of the towers were also well armored, above the deck the armor thickness was 95 mm, below the deck 70 mm.
The conning tower was also quite impressively booked. Again, in comparison with "Emile Bertin", where the thickness of the felling was as much as 20 mm. At La Galissoniers, the wheelhouse was protected along the perimeter by 95 mm armor, the roof was 50 mm, and the floor was 25 mm.
The conning tower was connected to the central post by an armored passage with a wall thickness of 45 mm. Chimneys (26 mm), ventilation shafts (20 mm), steering gear (26 mm) were also protected.
In comparison with "Emile Bertin" it turned out to be a very good armored monster. Before the war, military experts viewed La Galissoniers as ideal light cruisers.
I must say that for their displacement, these were very balanced ships, very equally combining both combat and driving performance. But the main advantage was the price. For such a low cost, they turned out to be very worthy cruisers.
Of course, there were some drawbacks. There were two main ones, more precisely, one and a half. Half can be considered the French turbines "Rato", which did not differ in reliability, respectively, the cruisers that were equipped with these turbines instead of "Parsons" experienced problems with them.
The second problem was air defense. The inability to install normal anti-aircraft guns made the cruiser virtually defenseless in the close air defense zone. Any more or less serious air attack could be fatal to the ships.
It can be said that the "La Galissonières" were lucky, and they did not have to face real air attacks in the initial period of the war. And those who survived this period, after modernization, received quite decent "Erlikons" and "Bofors", which made the ships' air defense more or less acceptable.
Six cruisers entered the war. But there was a date that divided the ships into two parts. On November 27, 1942, La Galissoniere, Jean de Vienne and Marseillaise went to the bottom in fire and flames, the crews of which carried out the order to destroy the ships so that the Germans would not get them.
A heroic, but very inglorious death.
And La Galissoniere was sunk twice.
After the surrender of France, "La Galissonniere" as part of the 3rd cruiser division was included in the "High Seas Formation", formed on September 25, 1940 from the most efficient ships of the fleet and based on Toulon and the Mediterranean. The activities of this compound were extremely limited due to lack of fuel.
On November 27, 1942, La Galissoniere was in Toulon, in dock 3. The ship had an incomplete crew, but the rest of the crew managed to sink the cruiser right at the dock.
Despite the fact that the Germans declared all the French ships confiscated, the Italians were able to take control of some of the ships, inspect and start lifting.
The Italians were strong in lifting and repairing ships. La Galissonniere, which was raised on March 9, 1943, was also among those suitable for lifting. The cruiser was supposed to be transferred to Italy for repair and restoration, the date of departure was named July 11, 1943. However, thanks to the outright sabotage of French dockers, the ship was never able to go to sea. On September 9, 1943, Italy entered into a truce with the Allies, but the ships still remained in Toulon.
On August 31, 1944, La Galissoniere was sunk in a raid by American B-25 bombers and sank at a depth of 10 m.
In 1945, La Galissonière was raised, but found unsuitable for restoration. On December 13, 1946, the cruiser was expelled from the fleet and dismantled in 1956.
Jean de Vienne.
On November 27, 1942, the Jean de Vienne was in Toulon, in dock 1. The crew sank their ship right at the dock, where it landed on an almost even keel. They should have also blown up the ship, but something did not grow together.
It is clear that the Italians raised such a gift in the first place. The cruiser was raised on February 18, 1943 and was also to be sent to Italy. However, the sabotage left the cruiser in Toulon until August 24, 1943, when two bombs from American bombers sent her to the bottom of the harbor.
On November 27, 1945, the cruiser was raised, on December 13, 1946, the cruiser was excluded from the fleet, and in 1948 its remnants were sold for scrap.
The Marseillaise.
On November 27, 1942, the Marseillaise was in Toulon. Having received the command to destroy the ship, the crew detonated explosive charges that destroyed the ship.
The remains of the ship were raised after the war and scrapped in 1946.
"Georges Leig".
Escaped death in Toulon, leaving with the "Gloire" and "Montcalm" in Dakar. The British tried to lay their paws on the ships, sending a detachment of ships to intercept. Georges Leig and Montcalm broke through, with Leiga gunners landing two shells on the Australian heavy cruiser Australia. "Gloire" was let down by domestic turbines, and he returned to Casablanca.
23-25 September 1940 "Georges Leig" took part in the defense of Dakar against the British fleet. Together with the Montcalm, he maneuvered in the outer roadstead of Dakar, firing at British ships. On September 24, "Georges Leig" achieved two hits with the main caliber on the battleship "Barham", but did not cause serious damage.
In 1941-42, the cruiser patrolled the Mediterranean Sea as part of a French squadron based at Dakar. He mastered the profession of a gold carrier, transporting about 100 tons of French gold from Dakar to Casablanca.
In 1943, after France's performance on the side of the Allies, the cruiser went to Philadelphia, where the catapult, hangars, aircraft were dismantled, and in exchange they installed 20 and 37 mm anti-aircraft guns.
The cruiser patrolled in the Atlantic, opposing German submarines and raiders, supported the landing of Allied troops in Normandy, in September 1944 the cruiser began to be based on Toulon again.
The last combat mission in World War II was artillery support for the landing in the Genoa region in March 1945.
After the end of the war, the cruiser took part in hostilities more than once. Having undergone modernization in Casablanca in 1946, Georges Leig, together with Montcalm, took part in the hostilities in Indochina in 1954.
And in 1956, in the Suez crisis, as part of a group of French ships, he provided fire support to Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip.
On December 17, 1959, the Georges Leig cruiser was excluded from the fleet and sold for scrap.
Gloire.
By the time France surrendered from the war, the Gloire was in Algeria. In June 1940, the ship returned to Toulon. In September, he took part in an attempt to break through to the Atlantic, opposing an attempt to seize ships by the British.
Due to a breakdown of the turbine, the cruiser did not get to the designated point of Libreville, but was forced to return to Casablanca, where it was repaired until March 1941, after which it moved to Dakar.
During the spring and autumn of 1941, "Gloire" took part in a number of convoy operations of the French fleet in the Atlantic. Later, due to lack of fuel, the ships based in Dakar rarely went to sea for a long time, but in March-April 1942 "Gloire" transported 75 tons of gold from Dakar to Casablanca.
In September 1942, the cruiser took part in the rescue of the crew and passengers of the British liner Laconia, sunk by a German submarine. During the search operation, the Gloire took on board and then delivered 1,041 people to Casablanca.
From the beginning of 1943, the cruiser participated in patrol operations in the Central Atlantic. During 1943, "Gloire" made 9 ocean trips for this purpose. Visited the modernization at the end of 1943 in New York. The modernization was similar to that carried out on the Georges Leige - the aircraft equipment was removed, and the small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery was installed.
In February 1944, the Gloire appeared in the Mediterranean, where she provided fire support to the British ground forces fighting at Anzio in Italy. After the landing, the cruiser transported British troops from North Africa to Naples.
In August 1944, the Gloire took part in the Allied landings in southern France, supporting amphibious operations with fire.
The cruiser's combat service ended in 1955, and in 1958 she was sold for scrap.
Montcalm.
With the outbreak of World War II, "Montcalm" was part of the Raider unit based in Brest, which was engaged in escorting convoys and hunting for German raiders. As part of the formation, he participated in the escort of two convoys and chased the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the North Sea.
In 1940 he covered the Allied evacuation from Norway.
Returning back, he made the transition to Dakar, since by that time Brest was in the hands of the Germans. Took part in the defense of Dakar from the British fleet.
In 1943, he underwent modernization in Philadelphia, after which, as part of an allied formation, he participated in landing operations in Corsica, southern France and Normandy.
After the end of World War II, he participated in the 1954 war in Indochina, suppressed the anti-French riots in Algeria in 1957.
It was used by the Navy until the end of 1969, and in May 1970 it finished its journey and was sold for scrap.
As you can see, those ships that did not fall under destruction in Toulon lived a rather long and meaningful life. Moreover, not as training ships, floating barracks or targets, but as full-fledged (well, almost full-fledged) warships.
It is clear that in the 60s, these cruisers, even equipped with modern radars, could be used exclusively against third or fourth world countries. But they were used, which indicates their quite decent combat potential.
Of course, everything is learned in comparison, and therefore in one of the following materials we will focus on comparing the cruisers of the La Galissoniere class with their direct competitors. That is, with the Italian cruisers of the "Condottieri" series A, B and C.
