Richelieu (1939) — French Battleship Model, 36 in
Richelieu (1939) — French Battleship Model, 36 in
How big is it?
Length about 91 cm / 36.0 in. Drawn to scale; the model outline is a simplified shape.
Model details
- Size
- 36 in / 91 cm
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Battle Ship Models
- Item no.
- CM585
The larger edition of France's finest battleship, at 36 inches.
Specification
- 36 inches
- Handcrafted hull and superstructure
- Quadruple main turrets with individual barrel detail
- Secondary turrets, anti-aircraft mounts, rangefinders and radar
- Raked mack structure, boats and deck fittings
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
The design
Richelieu is widely rated among the best battleship designs ever built — fast, extremely well protected, and heavily armed on a treaty-limited displacement. The forward-grouped main battery shortened the armoured citadel; the weight saved went into 330mm of belt armour and 32 knots.
Her silhouette is unmistakable. The funnel is raked sharply aft and merged into the mainmast structure, an arrangement that keeps exhaust gases clear of the rangefinders — an elegant solution to a problem that plagued other navies' ships.
Service
Attacked by the Royal Navy at Dakar in 1940, refitted in New York in 1943, and finished the war with the British Eastern Fleet against Japan.