![]() ![]() Test firings of the guns were conducted on 13 and 14 June. Richelieu conducted full-power trials on 13 June, reaching 32.63 knots exceeding her design performance. Repair work was conducted in Brest from 19 to 27 May, and fire control equipment for the main and secondary batteries were installed. Formal acceptance trials began on 14 April. Further engine testing was carried out between 31 March and 7 April during this period, she was commissioned on 1 April. The ship began initial testing on the a15 October while still fitting-out in an effort to rush the ship into service, the same day, the ship’s first commander, Capitaine de vaisseau Marzin came aboard.Įngine testing began on 14 January 1940, and a week later her main battery was completed when the last barrel was installed. Recognition drawing of Richelieu in her original configurationīy the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the hull had been assembled the start of the war led the naval command to decide to slow work on other, less complete vessels to focus efforts on Richelieu and her sister ship Jean Bart. Work was also slowed by strikes in the shipyards for better pay and working conditions. France used the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which Britain had unilaterally signed with Germany in June 1935 to dismiss British objections to the new ship, though they nevertheless slowed construction of Richelieu to ease British concerns. The French decision to lay down Richelieu in 1935 put the country in violation of the Washington Treaty, which was to expire on 31 December 1936, as the combined tonnage of the two Dunkerques and Richelieu exceeded the 70,000 long tons that had been allotted to France during the moratorium on new battleship construction. ![]() The main section of the hull was built on the slipway, while a length of the bow and a length of her stern were built elsewhere and attached after the rest of the ship was launched on the 17th January 1939. The slipway was not long enough to accommodate the entire length of the new battleship, and so the hull had to be built in pieces. ![]() The ship was laid down on 22 October 1935 in the dock that had recently built Dunkerque. French Battleship Richelieu & Her World War 2 Military Career ![]()
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