Suffren-class cruiser

The Suffren class was a class of four heavy cruisers built for the French Navy in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Schematics of the Suffren class
Class overview
Name: Suffren class
Operators:  French Navy
Preceded by: Duquesne class
Succeeded by: Algérie
In commission: 1930–1947
Completed: 4
Lost: 3
Retired: 1
General characteristics
Type: Heavy cruiser
Displacement:
  • 10,000 tonnes (standard)
  • 12,780 tonnes (full load)
Length: 194 m (636.48 ft)
Beam: 20 m (65.62 ft)
Draught: 7.3 m (23.95 ft)
Propulsion: 3-shaft Rateau-Bretagne SR geared turbines, 9 Guyot boilers, 90,000 shp (67 MW)
Speed: 32 knots (36.82 mph; 59.26 km/h)
Range: 4,500 nautical miles (5,178.51 mi; 8,334.00 km) at 15 kn (17.26 mph; 27.78 km/h)
Complement: 752 (Suffren: 773)
Armament:
Armour:
  • Belt: 50 mm (2.0 in) (Suffren, Colbert); 54 mm (2.1 in) (Foch); 60 mm (2.4 in) (Dupleix)
  • Deck: 25 mm (0.98 in)
  • Turrets and conning tower: 30 mm (1.2 in)
Aircraft carried: 3 (Suffren: 2), 2 catapults

Design and description

The design of the Suffren class was derived from the preceding Duquesne class with more armor exchanged for less speed. The ships had an overall length of 194 meters (636 ft 6 in), a beam of 19.26 meters (63 ft 2 in), and a draft of 6.57 meters (21 ft 7 in). They displaced 10,160 metric tons (10,000 long tons) at standard load and 13,135–13,644 t (12,928–13,429 long tons) at deep load. The hull was divided by 18 bulkheads into 19 watertight compartments. Their crew normally consisted of 647 men and increased by 84 when serving as flagships.[1]

Ships

The four ships of the class were:

  • Colbert, scuttled at Toulon during the scuttling of 27 November 1942.
  • Dupleix, scuttled at Toulon on 27 November 1942 to prevent her capture by the Germans and raised by the Italians on 3 July 1943. Sunk again during an Allied air raid in 1944.
  • Foch, scuttled at Toulon on 27 November 1942.
  • Suffren, disarmed and interned in Egypt by the British on 22 June 1940. Rejoined the Allies and rearmed on 30 May 1943. Decommissioned on 1 October 1947. Scrapped in 1974.

References

  1. Jordan & Moulin, pp. 50, 71–72

Bibliography

  • Jordan, John & Moulin, Jean (2013). French Cruisers 1922–1956. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-133-5.


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