The Bretagne-class battleships were the first "super-dreadnoughts" built for the French Navy during the First World War. The class comprised three vessels: Bretagne, the lead ship, Provence, and Lorraine. They were an improvement of the previous, and mounted ten 340mm guns instead of twelve 305mm guns as on the Courbets. A fourth was ordered by the Greek Navy, though work was suspended due to the outbreak of the war. The three completed ships were named after French provinces.
The three ships saw limited service during World War I, and were primarily occupied with containing the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic Sea. After the war, they conducted training cruises in the Mediterranean and participated in non-intervention patrols off Spain during the Spanish Civil War. After the outbreak of World War II, the ships were tasked with convoy duties and anti-commerce raider patrols until the fall of France in June 1940. Bretagne and Provence were sunk by the British Royal Navy during the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir the following month; Provence was later raised and towed to Toulon, where she was again scuttled in November 1942. Lorraine was disarmed by the British in Alexandria and recommissioned in 1942 to serve with the Free French Naval Forces. She provided gunfire support during Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, and shelled German fortresses in northern France. She survived as a gunnery training ship and a floating barracks until the early 1950s, before being broken up for scrap in 1954. Bretagne and Provence were scrapped in 1952 and 1949, respectively.
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 Statut Naval 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 Bretagne class were replacements for the battleships Carnot, Charles Martel and Liberté. They were developed from the Courbet class, and were built with the same hulls. The primary reason for the decision to use the same hull design as the Courbet class was limitations of French shipyards. The Courbet-class ships were the largest possible ships that could fit in existing dockyards and refitting basins. The Superior Naval Council (French: [[Conseil supérieur de la Marine]]) ordered the construction department to prepare designs for a 23500MT ship armed with twelve 340mm guns in six twin gun turrets.
The additional weight of the 340 mm turrets compared to the 305mm of the Courbet-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 3000MT 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 20mm to compensate for the increased weight of the main battery.
Provence was the first ship of the class to be laid down, which she was on 21 May 1912 at the Arsenal de Lorient. Bretagne was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest shipyard in Brest on 22 July 1912. Lorraine followed at the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire 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 Vasilefs Konstantinos 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.
The ships were 164.9m (541feet) long at the waterline and 166m (545feet) long overall. They had a beam of 26.9m (88.3feet) and a draft of between 8.9m (29.2feet) and 9.8m (32.2feet). At the designed load, the ships displaced 23936MT, and at full combat load, this increased to 26000MT. 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 10m (30feet) steamboats, three 11m (36feet) patrol boats, one 13m (43feet) long boat, three 10.5m (34.4feet) dinghies, two 5m (16feet) dinghies, two 8.5m (27.9feet) whaleboats, and two 5.6m (18.4feet) lifeboats.
The ships' propulsion systems consisted of four Parsons steam turbines. Bretagne was equipped with twenty-four Niclausse boilers; Lorraine had the same number of Guyot du Temple boilers. Provence 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 29000shp. This provided a top speed of 20kn. The four ships could carry 900MT of coal, though additional spaces could be used for coal storage, for up to 2680MT. At maximum speed, the ships could steam for 600nmi; at 13kn, the range increased significantly to 2800nmi A further reduction in speed to 10kn correspondingly increased the range to 4600nmi.
The ships were modified several times in the interwar period. In 1919, Bretagne was equipped with a heavy tripod mast; Provence and Lorraine were given tripod masts in the early 1920s. Four of Bretagnes boilers were converted to oil-firing in 1924, and half of Provences boilers in the rear boiler room were similarly converted in 1927. Bretagne 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. Provence was similarly modified in 1931–1934. Lorraines propulsion system was improved in a similar pattern. In 1935, Lorraine 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.
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 14500m (47,600feet); this was a result of the Councils belief that the decisive battle range would only be 6000m (20,000feet) and that fleets would not engage at ranges longer than 8000m (26,000feet). Lorraine was modified in 1917 to increase the elevation of the guns to 18 degrees, which correspondingly increased the range to 21100m (69,200feet). Bretagne and Provence 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 75mm guns were added. The ships' armament were rounded out by four 450mm torpedo tubes. The tubes were submerged in the ships' hulls.
In the interwar period, all three ships had their armament rearranged. In 1919–1920, Bretagne 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 8mm 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. Provence had her four forward 138 mm guns removed in 1919, and was equipped similarly to Bretagne. In 1931–1934, she received the same eight 75 mm guns as Bretagne did, and in 1940, three quadruple mounts of 13.2 mm guns were fitted. Lorraine 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 100mm 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 Richelieu, and eight 75 mm M1922 guns replaced them. In March–May 1944, fourteen 40mm and twenty-five 20mm guns in single mounts were added, and the quadruple 13.2 mm guns were removed.
The Bretagnes were provided with 4.57m (14.99feet) Barr and Stroud rangefinders. Each turret had 2m (07feet) rangefinder under an armoured 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 8.2m (26.9feet) instrument.
The ships' main armored belt was 270mm thick amidships and reduced to 160mm on either end of the ship. Above the belt, the secondary battery casemates were armored with 170mm thick steel plate. Horizontal protection consisted of three armored decks; the main deck was 30mm40mm thick. The upper and lower decks were both 40 mm thick. Sloped armor 70mm thick connected the main deck to the armored belt. Each of the main battery barbettes that housed the lower turret assemblies were armored with 248mm thick steel. The forward-most and rear-most turrets had 340mm thick sides. The superfiring turrets were less well protected, with 270 mm thick sides. The amidships turret was the most heavily armored, with 400mm thick sides. The conning tower was protected with 314mm thick armor plating. The total weight of armor was 7614MT.
| Builder | Laid down | Launched | In Service | Fate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal de Brest, Brest | 22 July 1912 | 21 April 1913 | 10 February 1916 | Sunk by the Royal Navy at Mers-el-Kébir, 4 July 1940 | |
| Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Saint-Nazaire | 7 November 1912 | 30 September 1913 | 10 March 1916 | Scrapped beginning January 1954 | |
| Arsenal de Lorient, Lorient | 21 May 1912 | 20 April 1913 | 1 March 1916 |