April 1689. English Channel. The 24-gun French frigate Serpan engages a Dutch ship. The French are clearly at a disadvantage. On board "Serpan" there is a load of barrels of gunpowder - the frigate can take off into the air at any moment. At this moment, the captain of the ship, Jean Bar, notices the 12-year-old boy, who squatted down in fear. The captain shouts to the sailors in a rage: “Tie him to the mast. If he does not know how to look death in the eye, he is not worthy to live."
The 12-year-old cabin boy was François-Cornil Bar, the son of Jean Bart and the future admiral of the French fleet.
Oh, and it was a fierce family!
Daddy is especially famous - the legendary Jean Bar of Dunkirk, the most daring and successful of the French corsairs of the 17th century. It was in his honor that the best battleship of the French Navy during the Second World War was named. The Jean Bar is the second ship in the Richelieu series of battleships to have had a surprisingly long and eventful life.
Design
The French battleships of the Richelieu class are rightfully considered the most balanced and perfect battleships of the pre-war period. They had many advantages and almost no major disadvantages. Minor flaws in their design were gradually eliminated over the long years of their service.
At the time of construction, they were the fastest battleships in the world (32 knots), noticeably inferior in combat power to only one Yamato and roughly equivalent to the German Bismarck. But at the same time, the French "35000-ton ships" along with the American "North Caroline" remained the smallest ships in their class.
Excellent performance was achieved with the help of a special layout, with the placement of two four-gun main battery towers in the bow of the ship. This made it possible to save on the mass of the towers (a four-gun turret weighed less than two two-gun turrets), as well as to reduce the length of the citadel (the "running meter" of which weighed 25 tons), converting the allocated load reserve into additional armor thickness.
From the point of view of combat characteristics, the “all guns forward” scheme also had its advantages: the ability to fire full volleys at the bow corners could come in handy when pursuing enemy raiders and heavy cruisers. The guns grouped in the nose had a smaller spread of volleys and simplified fire control. By unloading the aft end and shifting the weights to the midsection, the seaworthiness of the ship improved, and the strength of the hull increased. Boats and seaplanes placed aft were no longer exposed to muzzle gas exposure.
The disadvantage of the scheme was the "dead zone" at the aft corners. The problem was partially solved by the unprecedentedly large firing angles of the main caliber turrets - from 300 ° to 312 °.
Four guns in one turret created the threat of losing half of the main artillery from a single hit from a "stray" shell. In order to increase the combat survivability of the Richelieu towers were divided by an armored partition, each pair of guns had its own independent ammunition supply system.
380 mm French guns were superior in armor penetration to all existing German and British naval guns. The French 844-kg armor-piercing projectile could penetrate 378 mm of armor at a distance of 20,000 m.
The swift slope of the chimney is the trademark of the French battleships
The installation of nine medium-caliber guns (152 mm) turned out to be not a very rational solution: their high power and armor penetration did not matter when repelling attacks from destroyers, at the same time, the insufficient aiming speed and low rate of fire made them practically useless when repelling attacks from the air. It was possible to achieve acceptable characteristics only after the war, when this no longer made much sense.
In general, the question of everything related to air defense and fire control systems "hung in the air": due to the specific conditions of their completion, "Richelieu" and "Jean Bar" were left without modern radars. Despite the fact that before the war, France occupied a leading position in the development of radio-electronic means.
Nevertheless, Richelieu managed to obtain a complete set of modern radio equipment during repairs in the USA in 1943. The Jean Bar, rebuilt by its own forces, also received the best OMS of its time. By 1949, 16 radar stations of various ranges and purposes were installed on board.
Richelieu arrives in New York
The air defense system of the late period looked very cool: 24 universal 100 mm cannons in paired installations, coupled with 28 anti-aircraft machine guns of 57 mm caliber. All guns had centralized guidance according to radar data. Jean Bar, without exaggeration, received an outstanding air defense system - the best ever installed on a battleship. However, the approaching era of jet aviation already presented different requirements for anti-aircraft systems.
A few words about the armor protection of battleships:
The battleships of the "Richelieu" class had the best horizontal booking among all ships in the world. The main armored deck is 150 … 170 mm thick, supported by a 40 mm lower armored deck with 50 mm bevels - even the great Yamato could not boast of such indicators. Horizontal booking of the battleships "Richelieu" was not limited to the citadel: a 100 mm armored deck with bevels (150 mm above the steering gear compartment) went into the stern.
The vertical armoring of French battleships is equally admirable. The resistance of the 330 mm armor belt, taking into account its inclination at 15 ° from the vertical, the side plating and 18 mm STS steel lining, was equivalent to a homogeneous armor with a thickness of 478 mm. And at a meeting angle of 10 ° from the normal, the resistance increased to 546 mm!
Armored traverses differentiated in thickness (233-355 mm), powerful conning tower, where the walls were 340 mm thick of solid metal (+ 2 STS linings, 34 mm in total), excellent turret protection (430 mm forehead, 300 mm sides, 260 -270 mm rear), 405 mm barbets (80 mm below the main armor deck), local anti-fragmentation armoring of important posts - there is nothing to complain about.
Special attention was paid to the issues of anti-torpedo protection: the depth of the PTZ ranged from 4, 12 meters (in the area of the bow traverse) to 7 meters (midship frame). In the course of the post-war modernization "Jean Baru" was added 122-meter boules with a width of 1.27 m. This further increased the depth of the PTZ, which, according to calculations, could withstand an underwater explosion with a capacity of up to 500 kg of TNT.
And all this splendor fits in a hull with a total displacement of only 48,950 tons. The given value corresponds to the "Jean Bar" model of 1949 after its completion and all post-war measures to modernize the battleship.
Overall score
Richelieu and Jean Bart. Powerful, beautiful and very distinctive ships, favorably distinguished from other battleships with their well-thought-out balanced design to the smallest detail. Despite the large number of implemented innovations, the French have never had to regret their bold decisions. The boilers of the Sural-Indre system operated without interruption, in which the fuel was burned under an excess pressure of 2 atm. The design of the battleships demonstrated excellent combat stability. "Jean Bar", being in an unfinished state, was able to withstand five to seven hits of American 406 mm shells, each of which weighed a ton and a quarter. It is easy to imagine the destructive power of these "blanks"!
It is safe to say that in the person of Richelieu and Jean Bart, any battleship of the Second World War would have met a worthy opponent, the outcome of a one-on-one duel with whom hardly anyone could have predicted.
- "French LK" Richelieu "and" Jean Bar "", S. Suliga
Courage, Betrayal and Redemption
On May 10, 1940, German troops invaded France. At that moment in Saint-Nazaire was the unfinished battleship "Jean Bar", whose entry into service was scheduled for October of the same year. Already on May 17, the situation became so serious that the French had to think about the immediate withdrawal of the battleship from Saint-Nazaire.
This could be done no earlier than on the night of June 20-21 - on the full moon, when the tide reaches its highest point. But before that, it was necessary to widen and deepen the channel leading to the Loire for the unhindered withdrawal of the huge ship.
Finally, it was required to complete the construction of the battleship itself - to partially commission its power plant, power generators, a radio station, install screws and equip the battleship with the necessary means of navigation. Connect the galley, provide habitability for the compartments to accommodate personnel. It was not possible to establish the entire planned composition of weapons - but the French planned to commission at least one main-caliber turret.
This entire grandiose complex of works must be completed in one month. At the slightest delay, the French had no choice but to blow up the battleship.
The workers at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard began a race against time. Under German bombardment, working 12 hours a shift, 3,500 people tried to accomplish the impossible.
On May 22nd, the dock in which the Jean Bar stood was drained. The workers started painting its underwater part.
On June 3, a propeller was installed on the inner shaft of the left side (from a set of spare parts for "Richelieu" delivered from the Brest shipyard). Four days later, a screw was installed on the inner shaft of the starboard side.
On June 9, some auxiliary mechanisms, a steering gear and a galley were put into operation.
On June 12, three boilers were commissioned and work began on balancing the propellers.
Medium-caliber towers did not arrive by the appointed time. A compromise solution was urgently developed - to mount in their place paired 90 mm anti-aircraft guns (model 1926). The guns and ammunition supply systems were installed in a matter of days, but the ammunition sent from Brest was late for the ship's departure. The battleship was left without medium and universal calibers.
On June 13 and 14, a complex and time-consuming operation was carried out to install four 380 mm guns of the main caliber turret.
On June 16, the main turbines and generators were put into operation, steam was raised in the battleship's boilers.
On June 18, the Germans entered Nantes, which lies just 65 km east of Saint-Nazaire. On this day, the tricolor flag of France was raised on the battleship. The supply of electricity from the shore was cut off, now all the necessary electricity was generated by the only turbine generator on board the Jean Bara.
By this time, the workers of the dredging installations managed to clear a channel with a width of only 46.5 m (with a battleship hull width of 33 meters!). From the crew of "Jean Bart" was required remarkable courage and luck to safely navigate the battleship in such a narrow way.
The surgery was scheduled for the next night. Despite the absence of most of the weapons on the battleship and the minimum supply of oil on board (125 tons), the estimated depth under the keel did not exceed 20-30 centimeters.
The tugs pulled the Jean Bar out of the dock, but after 40 meters of movement, the bow of the battleship buried itself in the silt. It was dragged off the shallows, but after a couple of minutes, the ground scratched again under the bottom. This time the consequences were more serious - the battleship damaged part of the bottom skin and the right propeller.
By 5 am, when the Jean Bar, helping with its own cars, was already leaving the middle of the river, Luftwaffe aircraft appeared in the sky. One of the dropped bombs pierced the upper deck between the barbets of the main battery towers and exploded in the inner compartments, forming a bulge in the deck flooring. The fire that had arisen was quickly extinguished with water from the broken pipeline.
At this time, the battleship was already confidently moving towards the open ocean, developing a speed of 12 knots. At the exit from the harbor, two tankers and a small escort from French destroyers were waiting for him.
Now that the horrors of imprisonment in Saint-Nazaire are over, the commanding officer of the battleship Pierre Ronarc is faced with the obvious question: Where to go?
Despite the unfinished state and the absence of most of the crew (there were only 570 people on board, including 200 civilians - workers of the shipyard), on the evening of June 22, 1940, the battleship Jean Bar safely arrived in Casablanca. On the same day, news came in about the conclusion of an armistice with the Germans.
For the next two years, the Jean Bar rustled quietly at the dock in Casablanca; he was strictly forbidden to leave the harbor. The battleship was closely watched by the German and Italian authorities. From the air, the situation was observed by British reconnaissance aircraft (one of which was shot down by anti-aircraft fire from a battleship).
The French, hoping for the best, continued to maintain the Jean Bart mechanisms in working order, were engaged in self-made repairs and modernization of the weapons. The hole from the German bomb was sealed with sheets of ordinary steel. The barbet of the unfinished tower II was filled with cement in order to reduce the trim at the stern. A set of rangefinders was delivered from Toulon to control the fire of the main and universal calibers removed from the battleship Dunkirk, which was undergoing repairs. The anti-aircraft armament was reinforced with five towers with coaxial 90 mm guns. A search radar appeared on the roof of the superstructure.
Finally, on May 19, 1942, it came to the main caliber. With the permission of the occupation authorities, "Jean Bar" fired five four-gun salvoes towards the sea. The tests were successful, but the event did not go unnoticed (and even more so - unheard) for the American consul in Casablanca. A dispatch was sent to Washington about the presence of a powerful combat-ready battleship off the coast of North Africa, which could pose a threat to the allies. During the planned November 1942 operation "Torch" (the landing of Anglo-American troops in North Africa), "Jean Bar" was included in the list of priority targets.
At dawn on November 8, 1942, the battleship received a message about the movement of a group of unknown ships off the coast. At 6:00 local time, the team took their places according to the combat schedule, the main battery guns were loaded. Closer to 8 am, through the clouds of smoke from the destroyers, which were in the harbor, spreading a pair of destroyers, the silhouettes of a battleship and two cruisers were seen.
The Americans were serious - the battle group TG 34.1 was approaching Casablanca as part of the newest battleship Massachusetts with a 406 mm main caliber, supported by the heavy cruisers Wichita and Tuscaloosa, surrounded by a detachment of destroyers.
Museum Ship USS Massachusetts, Fall River, today
The first blow was struck by 9 Dontless dive bombers, which took off from the Ranger aircraft carrier located 30 miles off the coast. One of the bombs hit the stern of the Jean Bart. Having broken through several decks and the bottom, it caused flooding of the manual control compartment of the steering gears. Another bomb struck the embankment nearby - the battleship was showered with stone chips, the skin received cosmetic damage.
This was only the first cruel greeting that the Yankees greeted the ships of Vichy France. At 08:04 on ships in the harbor of Casablanca, the battleship and cruisers of the US Navy opened fire with the main battery. Over the next 2.5 hours "Massachusetts" from a distance of 22,000 meters fired at the French 9 full volleys of 9 rounds and 38 volleys of 3 and 6 rounds, achieving five direct hits on Jean Bar.
Meeting with a supersonic 1226 kg alloy steel blank did not bode well. The greatest consequences could have had a shell hit that pierced the deck in the stern of the battleship and burst into flames in the cellar of medium-caliber towers (fortunately for the French, it was empty). The damage from the other four hits can be classified as moderate.
A piece of an armor-piercing shell that hit Jean Bar
One of the shells pierced through part of the pipe and the superstructure, and exploded from the outside, causing shrapnel damage to the side. Closer to 9 am, the ship shuddered from two direct hits on the main battery turrets barbets. The fifth shell hit the stern again, at a place already damaged by the bomb. Also, there are disagreements about two close explosions: the French claim that there was a direct hit in the battleship's armor belt and bulb.
Due to the strong smoke in the harbor, "Jean Bar" managed to fire only 4 volleys in response, after which it was impossible to adjust the fire.
Having shot the motionless unfinished battleship, the Yankees considered the task completed, and retreated at full speed towards the open sea. However, by six in the evening of the same day, "Jean Bar" restored its combat capability. The next day, his universal artillery fired 250 rounds at the advancing Anglo-American troops, but the main caliber was not used so as not to reveal all the trump cards to the end.
On November 10, the American heavy cruiser Augusta presumptuously approached Casablanca. At that moment, "Jean Bar" fired at him a sighting salvo of 380 mm cannons. The Yankees rushed to their heels in horror, radio messages about the suddenly awakened giant rushed into the open air. The payback was brutal: three hours later, the Dontlesss attacked the French battleship from the Ranger aircraft carrier, achieving two hits of 1000-lb. bombs.
In total, as a result of artillery shelling and air strikes, "Jean Bar" was seriously damaged, lost most of its electricity, took 4500 tons of water and sat astern on the ground. Irrecoverable crew losses amounted to 22 people (out of 700 sailors on board). The excellent booking has served its purpose to the end. For comparison, 90 people were killed on board the nearby light cruiser Primoge.
Speaking about the damage to Jean Bart, it is worth considering that the ship was unfinished, many of its compartments were not pressurized. The only turbine generator was damaged - power was supplied by emergency diesel generators. A reduced crew was on board the ship. And nevertheless, the stationary battleship turned out to be a "tough nut to crack" and badly ruffled the nerves of the allies.
After the accession of the French forces in Africa to the allies, "Jean Bar" was removed from the ground and prepared to be sent under its own power for repairs in the United States. However, unlike its parent "Richelieu", "Jean Bard" required extensive refurbishment with the manufacture of the missing main caliber turret. The problem was complicated by the lack of drawings of the tower mechanisms and the complexity of the transition to the metric system of measures and weights. The process dragged on, as a result, work on the restoration of "Jean Bara" began with their own forces only after the end of the war.
Were considered boldly projects of re-equipment "Jean Bara" into an aircraft carrier or exotic "air defense battleship" with the installation of 34 paired universal five-inch guns and 80 anti-aircraft guns "Bofors". As a result of all the discussions, the designers returned with the simplest, cheapest and most obvious option. Completion of the battleship according to the original project with the introduction of the latest achievements in the field of automation and radio engineering.
The updated battleship returned to service in April 1950. Over the next years, Jean Bar was used as the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet of the French Navy. The ship made many calls to European ports, made a visit to the United States. The last time Jean Bar was in the war zone was in 1956, during the Suez Crisis. In the event of the stubbornness of the Egyptian leadership, the French command planned to use the battleship's guns to bomb Egyptian cities.
Between 1961 and 1969, the Jean Bar was used as a training ship at the artillery school in Toulon. In January 1970, the last of the French battleships was finally removed from the fleet and put up for sale. In the summer of the same year, he was towed to La Seim for dismantling for metal.
Veteran rests in laurels of glory on the French Riviera
