French Battleships, 1922-1956 Hardcover – Illustrated, November 5, 2009

Having recently read the recently published  French Battleships of World War One , it made sense to re-read this one in order to get a complete view of French battleship development through the years. John Jordan has since published three similar volumes on French battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, all of which are very fine books in their own right. Although this book has the luxury of only having to focus on four ships, the Dunkerque and Richelieu classes, (and a couple which were never completed), it nonetheless achieves a balance the other three books in the series don't QUITE achieve.After an introduction focusing on the impact of the Washington Naval Treaty and the moribund state of French capital ship design in the post-war era, the majority of the book focuses on the ships themselves. The book is arranged by alternating historical and technical chapters, which actually works better than the more segregated approach used by its successors. The history of each ship is laid out in some detail, the text accompanied with maps, orders of battle, diagrams of battle damage, lists of commanding and flag officers, and official reports. The technical chapters describe salient features of the ships' armor, armament, fire control machinery, command spaces, aviation facilities, and post-completion modifications.Where this book really shines, though, is the amount of detail and the quality of its presentation. The photographs, for the most part, are finely grained, well chosen, and have useful captions. An eight-page color section includes crisp plan and profile views of each ship at different stages during their careers. A large number of diagrams are provided, ranging from deck plans of Dunkerque's forward tower, to cross-sections through different types of shell, armor layouts, and depictions of the damage "Jean Bart" received at Casablanca. A large number of specification tables and insets accompany the text, including some interesting descriptions of French naval infrastructure. The overall look of the book harks back to the classic naval references of the 70s and 80s, but considering that most of the maps and diagrams are computer-drawn, it's definitely slicker and more polished.I seriously wish more warship monographs were like this. It's a very tight, concise work which doesn't mess around with extraneous details. It manages to deliver a solid dose of historical and technical details without totally overwhelming the reader. It has a couple flaws here and there (propulsion details are a little sketchy, and there isn't much in the way of analysis of strengths and flaws), but it's still among my favorite naval references.

This is a wonderful book. Authored by two of the foremost contemporary authorities on French warships, it is a greatly enhanced, single-volume elaboration -- in English -- of Robert Dumas' three-part French-language monograph covering the battleships "Dunkerque," "Strassbourg," "Richelieu" and "Jean Bart." This work's scope includes a look back at French dreadnought battleships commissioned and planned prior to 1932; as well as the fullest English-language profile I have seen of the never-completed battleship designs projected after 1939 ("Clemenceau," "Gascogne" and "Alsace"). The authors do a commendable job of describing the historic, political and technical factors influencing French capital ship development and procurement; then follow up with thorough technical descriptions and revealing operational histories of the four completed ships. The volume concludes with a candid and balanced assessment of the ships and comparisons with foreign contemporaries. The text is clear and to-the-point. The accompanying photos emphasize close-up views showing general arrangements and details of ship's equipment, but also include overall portraits demonstrating the changing profiles of the vessels throughout their lives. Especially delightful are the eight pages presenting 23 side elevation and overhead views -- in color -- of "Dunkerque," "Strassbourg," "Richelieu," "Jean Bart," "Clemenceau" and "Gascogne" as they appeared at different stages of their careers. These drawings are beautifully executed. Most of the numerous line drawings -- many prepared specifically by Mr. Jordan for this volume -- are well-done. This book does justice to these handsome and technically innovative ships while filling a long-neglected need in the English literature on naval history. I own the French-language Dumas trilogy that was the starting point for "French Battleships 1922-1956," but feel that this book was well worth its price.

I liked this book and other books by these authors. Highly recommend for those, who are interested in naval history.Also, I would use this book as an example of "how to write good books about difficult subjects".

Pictures, diagrams, after action synopsis and explanations for battleship engineering. That's all in here, if you are interested in battleships and how they are built and the kind of compromises they have then this is your book. The level of detail in the drawing and the pictures help pull this book together, it is one of the most complete books on battleship construction out there.

This is a first rate book on a topic about which little has been written in any depth, apart from Mr. Dumas' previous works, which are only available in French. It is certainly, one of the very best publications of its type that I have read (and I have read many). It is very well written, and the quality of the paper, photos, line-drawings and color plates are all as good as it gets.The book covers all aspects of design development, construction and history of the Dunkerque, Strasbourg, Richelieu, and Jean Bart, as well as the partially completed Clemenceau and unbuilt Gascogne. many alternate designs for these projects are also discussed in some detail, with features shown in a number of drawings.My only minor complaints are that some of the good pictures from Mr. Dumas' previous works on the subject were not included (although many great new pictures were), and I would have preferred that some of the drawings and color plates could have been printed in a larger format. In fact, the detail in the color plates is fantastic, and it would be great if they were offered in a larger format as prints.Highly recommended to anyone interested in the topic.

The authors managed to piece together a truly superb account of France's final battleships - namely the Dunkerque's (Dunkerque & Strassbourg) and Richelieu's (Richelieu & Jean Bart) - in the prelude to WW2 all the way to 1956 when the last two left active duty (and 1970, when Jean Bart was finally sold for scrap). Covering all from the post WW1 environment in which they were conceived, to the protracted and at times difficult construction, to the entry into service and eventual service in French, Vichy French and finally Allied hands during WW2, as well as French service (all the way up to Suez) after the war, and finally to possible modifications and post WW2 follow-on designs, the book is a real treasure trove of information on these fine ships.Even though there is lots to cover in a book of not too hefty proportions, the authors managed to get the balance spot on. There is a sensible organization principle into chapters, with highlighted 'asides', covering specific relevant details peppered in throughout. The authors often go into significant detail, which will definitely help the seasoned enthusiast but do so in a writing style that will also not alienate someone rather new to the field (although novices will probably have their difficulty understanding all the fire control issues encountered).The two separate classes - the Dunkerque's and Richelieu's - led very different lives, with the first pair sadly being scuttled by their crews to prevent them from falling into German hands, and consequently seeing almost no action against their intended foes. Of the Richelieu's it was only the first that got completed and used in anger during WW2, with Jean Bart, in spite of intense efforts never having been put to use during the war.What was also interesting to read was the (possibly wilful) misinterpretation of facts by Churchill and the British naval establishment, which led to the ill-fated Operations Catapult and Menace, both of which led to unnecessary deaths on both sides, as well as much later distrust and which could have been avoided altogether.The final pages, on how the European colonial powers after WW2 could ill afford expensive military platforms like battleships and how the practically unused Jean Bart went more or less from final completion almost immediately into reserve status, are very realistic and sobering.The book also comes with rich pictorial accompaniment from archives and private collections, as well as with a vast collection of drawings (period and modern ones). There are even colour line drawings of all the configurations that were produced fresh for the book, allowing modellers to faithfully recreate all the permutations the designs went through over the years.So overall a superb book and a must have for naval enthusiasts, especially those with a foible for the marine national and for battleships. I can only imagine that the second in the series - namely  French Cruisers: 1922-1956  - conforms to the same high standard - so there is more on the general topic from this successful author pairing. French Cruisers: 1922-1956

This book does not cover 'French Battleships 1922 - 1956', more accurately it focuses on the new Dunqerque's and Richelieu's, dating from 1932 onwards. The old dreadnoughts do get a mention, but not much more than that. However, interesting recently discovered plans for battlecruisers dating from the late 1920's have been included: for political reasons these ships were never actually built.There is a great deal of technical detail, though some of it is repeated in captions to drawings, and all the measurements are metric. I wish there was at least a conversion chart- as appears in Mr Jordans recent book 'Warships after Washington': as it is, you cannot easily compare this data with that for British or American ships. The otherwise superb technical chapters can sometimes be a little hard to follow- for example, in chapter 2 we are frequently referred to chapter 4, and the excellent plans and tables often appear some pages away from the relevant text. That said, the actual detail given is first class and Mr Jordan diligently provides many excellent line drawings: his co- author's numerous full colour profiles are the best I have ever seen.These ships were sophisticated for their day, though service experience showed that many details of design and construction were suspect. The authors explain the problems. They were very wet at sea and the long slim forward hulls of the Dunkerques proved to be structurally weak. Moreover their overly short armour belts did not provide adequate bouyancy when the unarmoured ends were damaged. Dunkerque was deposited on the harbour floor after four hits at Mers El Kebir (all be it from 15 inch guns) and when damaged both of the Richelieus' suffered major flooding through cable ducts and poorly welded joints.The French had not built new battleships for 20 years and so were understandably keen to incorporate new technology, but the ships were excessively dependant on 1930's electronics. When Dunkerques' main switchboard was disabled the entire ship was immobilized, and the electrics that operated the main and secondary turrets made these very troublesome and 'fragile'. Water or oil damage would rapidly destroy electric cables and their connections.Some design decisions made to save weight proved mistaken in the outcome. The quadruple turrets gave excessive dispersion of fire- a problem not cured in the Richelieu until 1948. Moreover having all the heavy guns mounted forward was a tactical handicap- the Dunkerque and Strasbourg could not return fire at all at Mers El Kebir. The decision to place Richelieu's main directors one on top of the other was a disaster in the making and sure enough at Dakar they were all put out of action- by a torpedo strike near the stern of the ship! The the virtues of simplicity were overlooked- for example in action all of Dunkerque's armoured doors were disabled due to hydraulic failure: in RN and US ships these doors were balanced by simple counterweights. Of course many of the problems would have been overcome in time, but the defeat of France as early as June 1940 made rectification difficult, to say the least.The book is divided fairly evenly between technical description and historical narrative- and the latter is riveting to read. The Dunkerque's and Richelieu's were certainly unlucky ships: Dunkerque spent nearly four years undergoing endless sea trials (which clearly still left many problems undiscovered and unresolved), only to then have a very short and rather ignominious service life- though her sister did well to escape from the Mers El Kebir disaster. It is curious that Richelieu was shelled at Dakar by the Royal Navy in 1940 and yet was fighting in line with British battleships by 1943. She had been repaired in the USA, yet the USS Massachusetts had shelled her sister Jean Bart at Casablanca only a few months earlier!Despite some criticisms, this is a fine book- very thoroughly researched and presented with many interesting photo's and excellent, well annotated drawings. It's also hansom to look at and at less than £23 from Amazon it is a remarkable bargain.

Having written about Soviet Warships previously John Jordan, together with his co-author Robert Dumas, has now turned his attention to French Warships of the post First World War period. This book is the first of a series of books detailing the various types of warship in the Marine Nationale during, arguably, the most tragic period of its history.The first chapter covers the Marine Nationale's building programme prior to the First World War and also following it leading up to the Washington Conference of 1922. That and the second chapter detailing the various designs drawn up by the Marine Nationale prior to the construction of the Dunkerque-class Battlecruisers, provide a very useful background into the background and the philosophy behind the construction of these ships. Subsequent chapters detail the design process behind each succeeding classes and separate chapters covered their subsequent service histories. A final chapter provides an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of each class, especially in comparison with foreign contemporaries.Whilst not overly long, particularly in comparison with The Littorio class, which covers the contemporary Italian class of battleships I found it informative. One annoyance I did have however was that none of the various plans and drawings had a scale provided. Also, whilst providing detailed dimensions for the secondary and anti-aircraft mountings the authors did NOT provide this information for the main armament. (Having provided it for one, I would have thought that they would have provided it for all of them). Other than that I quite enjoyed reading it, the more so as it covered a section of Second World War Naval History which is not well know in the UK.

I have read a lot about the British, American, German and Japanese fleets in World War II but had only read passing references to some of the other fleets such as the French and Italian. This book was an effort to address my lack of knowledge on the French fleet and the book did that in spades.Very well detailed book about the design, construction and operational careers of the major capital ships of the French navy before, during and after the second world war. Despite this, the book is quiet easy to read and gives a good historical account of these ships.Excellent pictures throughout.I recommend it for people who want to get a more in-depth knowledge of French battleships of this era.

My initial perusal of this book was based on reviews in various naval annuals and mags - if anything these understated the quality and depth of the work. Will have to dig out my paint brushes and get cracking finishing my French navy