Jean Bart — Richelieu-Class Battleship Model, 36 in
Jean Bart — Richelieu-Class 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.
- CM606
The larger edition of France's last battleship, at 36 inches.
Specification
- 36 inches
- Handcrafted hull and superstructure
- Forward-grouped quadruple main turrets with individual barrel detail
- Secondary armament, masts, rangefinders, boats and radar
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
Why the guns are all at the front
The Richelieu class carried its entire main battery forward in two quadruple turrets — eight 380mm guns, none of them able to fire directly astern.
The logic was armour. Concentrating the turrets means concentrating the magazines, and concentrating the magazines means the heavily armoured citadel protecting them can be shorter. A shorter citadel is a lighter citadel, and the weight saved buys thicker plate or higher speed.
The cost is obvious: a ship that has to turn to fight anything behind it. The French and the British Nelson class both accepted the trade; nobody else did.
History
Incomplete when France fell, escaped to Casablanca, fought USS Massachusetts in 1942, and was finished in 1955.