French battleship Provence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Provence (disambiguation).

Career (France)
The battleship Provence
Namesake:	Region of Provence
Builder:	Arsenal de Lorient
Laid down:	1 May 1912
Launched:	20 April 1913
Commissioned:	June 1915
Fate:	Scuttled, 27 November 1942
General characteristics
Class and type:	Bretagne class battleship
Displacement:	23 230 tons standard, 26 180 tons full load
Length:	166 m
Beam:	26.9 m
Draught:	9.8 m
Propulsion:	4 shaft Parsons turbines, 18-24 boilers, 29,000 hp
Speed:	20 knots
Range:	4700 nm at 10 knots, 2680 tons coal and 300 tons oil
Complement:	1133
Armament:	10 × 340mm/45 Modèle 1912 guns in twin mounts 4 × 47 mm guns 4 × 450 mm torpedo tubes Before 1935 22 × 138mm/55 Modèle 1910 guns After 1935 14 × 138mm/55 Modèle 1910 guns 8 × 75mm/50 Modèle 1922 guns
Armour:	Belt 270 mm three decks 40 mm each Casemates 170 mm 340 mm turrets 314 mm conning tower

The Provence was a French Navy battleship of the Bretagne class named in honour of the French region of Provence.

1 Construction
2 Service
3 Gallery
4 References

[edit] Construction

She was built by Arsenal de Lorient, and her keel was laid on 1 May 1912. She was launched on 20 April 1913, and completed by June 1915, when she was commissioned.

Like her sister ships, the Provence was armed with a main armament of ten of the new 340mm main guns from the cancelled Normandie-class battleships. The main guns were mounted two per turret; two centreline superfiring forward, two centreline superfiring aft and one amidships centreline turret that could fire to both sides.

[edit] Service

The Provence served in the Mediterranean with the two other Bretagne-class battleships during both World Wars. She was damaged by British naval gunfire at Mers-el-Kebir and beached to prevent flooding. After Mers-el-Kebir she made her way to Toulon where she was repaired, but was later sunk on 27 November 1942 during the Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon to prevent her from falling into Nazi hands.

On 11 July 1943 the Provence was raised by the Germans, and her main 340 mm guns were removed and used as shore batteries. After D-Day in 1944 she was again scuttled for use as a blockship.

In April 1949 she was raised and finally scrapped.