The Ships of Battlegroup: France Dunkerque (BB)

Displacement	26,500 tons	Belt Armor	9.5 inches
Overall Length	703 feet	Deck Armor	5.5 inches
Beam	102 feet	Main Turret Armor	13.2 inches
Speed	29 knots	Main Guns	8 × 13″

Laid down on December 24, 1932, launched on October 2, 1935 and commissioned in April 1937, the ship carried a main armament of eight 13 inch main guns mounted in two centerline superfiring quad turrets forward. In addition to the innovative use of quadruple turrets all mounted forward for her main battery, the Dunkerque class (Strasbourg was the only sister ship) adopted an ‘internal’ armor belt. This method of armor placement, used also in the later Richelieu class, proved effective in keeping shellfire out of the ship’s all-important "citadel" (the most important and vulnerable parts of the ship—main guns, ammunition and engines), even though the belt armor was relatively thin and only proof against the German 11 inch gun. Like the United States’ "all or nothing" battleship armor scheme, the ships were extensively compartmented where not armored. Dunkerque was the lead ship of class of well-designed and well-protected battlecruisers that was designed specifically to counter the German’s Deutschland class of 11 inch main gun "pocket battleships" by superior gunfire and speed. As it turned out, they were also superior to the later German 11 inch main gun battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau .

The name is the French spelling of the port city of "Dunkirk". In the early days of the Second World War, she was assigned convoy protection duties and served in the Atlantic when Scharnhorst and Gneisenau made their first convoy raid. She was heavily damaged by gunfire from the British squadron (Ark Royal, Hood, Barham and Resolution) at Mers el Kebir (Oran) after the French surrender to Germany, although her protection scheme held up well against British 15 inch shells and a torpedo hit from an Ark Royal aircraft. After repairs she sailed to Toulon and was scuttled there on November 27, 1942 to prevent capture by the Germans. Dunkerque was salvaged in 1945 but never repaired and was finally scrapped in 1958.

For other "battlecruisers" that served in World War II, see: Guam, Haruna, Hiei, Hood, Kirishima, Kongo, and Repulse

For contemporary foreign battleships with quadruple turrets, see: King George V .

Where did we get all these fascinating historical tidbits and factoids? See the Bibliography for the culprits.