Courbet, Courbet-class battleship

[WayOfTheWolk 1,573]

Courbet

 

Introduction:

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By the early 20th century dreadnoughts had become the new trend in naval design featuring a main battery of single caliber guns with a emphasis in heavy firepower. The French in 1910 designed a counterpart to the HMS Dreadnought which was to take in account these new innovations with the 1910 naval program. The "Courbet" named after the late Admiral Courbet from the late 19th century was France's first dreadnought laid down on January 1, 1910 and launched on September 23, 1911. Her overall armor thickness was less than her contemporaries but in comparison to her predecessors in service much improved. During her fitting-out Courbet was given Belleville boilers in contrast to later ships of her class that had Niclausse built boilers which proved to be very unreliable. Her fire-control system was considered very primitive and thus accuracy for the guns was minimal. Courbet was fully completed on October 8, 1913 undergoing sea trials for the next month before being formally commissioned on November 19, 1913. 

Service History:

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On the onset of the First World War, Courbet was flagship of the French Mediterranean fleet under Admiral Lapeyrere. Admiral Lapeyrere was pressed to contain the Austro-Hungarian navy putting together an Anglo-French force to sweep the Adriatic. On August 16, 1914 the task force succeeded in sinking the Austro-Hungarian cruiser "Zenta" though nor further warships were encountered. For the rest of the year the Courbets provided the allied forces with gunfire on the Austro-Hungarian coast till December 21 when the "Jean Bart" was struck by a torpedo from a u-boat and was forced to return to base for repairs. In Janaury 1915 the Courbets traveled to the Albanian coast hearing that the Austro-Hungarian forces were steaming out of Pola naval base out to learn later that it was false rumors. Following Italy's declaration of war against Austria-Hungary in May the French withdrew their naval forces including the Courbet back to home ports for resupplies and modernization. The Courbet had its AA suite bolstered by the addition of dual 75mm guns in 1916 and the retro-fit of its existing 47mm on AA mounts. At the end of World War 1 the Courbet had been reassigned into the West Mediterranean Squadron of the 1st Battle Division becoming a gunnery training ship in 1922. 

 

At this time the Courbet would begin a series of refits to boost its combat potential after which a postwar assessment had determined that the Courbet class was wholly inadequate for service. Her first refit between Jluy 1923 and April 1924 had her AA suite entirely replaced with four M1918 75mm guns, her main gun elevation was increased from 16 to 23 degrees, a new tripod mast was added with Barr & Stroud rangefinder, four oil-fired boilers were added, her two forward funnels were combined and her bow armor was removed to increase seaworthniness. After a brief two year period 1925-1927 of peacetime voyages the Courbet underwent a four year modernization that lasted until January 1931. In this time she received an additional 22 oil fired boilers from various sources, a Saint Chamond-Granat fire-control sytsem in a DCT atop the tripod mast, replacement and additions of all rangefinders including the earlier Barr & Stroud model and seven modele 1922 75mm AA guns replacing the M1918 models with their own fire directors. Just after the refit in March Courbet suffered a propulsion failure and was taken for repairs with test trials in June. In the 1930s the remaining Courbet class ships, Courbet and Paris were assigned to the training division ending most of her sea faring journeys. 

 

In 1938 the Courbet's torpedo tubes were removed to make room and 13.2 mm machine guns were installed to bolster her AA defenses. The training divsion was disbanded in June 1939 and the Courbet class ships joined the 3rd battle Divsion as a result. Assigned to the 2nd Maritime Region on the eve of World War 2 the ships continued in gunnery training roles and were mobilized on May 21, 1940 for active duty. Courbet had the honor of laying down suppressing bombardment on June 19, 1940 against the advancing German 7th Panzer division at Cherbourg. She was recalled to Portsmouth, England later on and seized by the British to prevent capture into German hands much so with the Paris. She was then given to Free French forces who used her as a floating AA battery till March 41 when she was disarmed and turned into an accommodation ship. Her hulk was used as a target against "Highball" bouncing bomb tests in 1943 later to be scuttled as a breakwater at Sword beach during the Normandy Landings on June 9, 1944. German forces however unaware of the ship's retirement torpedoed the ship using Neger manned torpedoes between 16-17 of August. Courbet thus has the record of being the only ship to be attacked by both Allied and Axis experimental weapons. She was broken up over an extended period of time finally scrapped in 1970. 

Photographs:

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Courbet in 1939

Courbet underway (1930s)

Courbet during WW1

Courbet sister ship "Jean Bart" underway

Courbet sister ship "Paris" at Devonport (July 1940)

Illustration of the "Paris" fighting off an air attack (June 11, 1940)

Technical Data:

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Specifications:

Displacement:  22189 tonnes

Length: 158.8 m

Beam: 27.9 m 

Draught: 9.0 m

Installed Power: 26 x Belleville boilers (28000 hp)

Propulsion: 4 x shafts, 4 x Parsons geared steam turbines

Speed: 20 knots

Crew: 1108 men

 

Armor:

Belt: 270-180 mm

Upper Belt: 180 mm

Main Deck: 70 mm

Upper Deck: 50 mm

Forecastle Deck: 30 mm

Main Turrets: 320 mm

Barbettes: 270 mm

Casemates: 180:

Conning Tower: 270 mm

 

Armament (1939):

12 x 305/45 M1906 guns (6 x 2)

22 x 139/55 M1910 guns 

6 x 75/50 M1922 AA guns

12 x 13.2 mm CAD Mle 1929 AA machine guns (6 x 2)

2 x 13.2 mm Browning AA machine guns 

Sources:

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• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
• Jordan, John & Dumas, Robert (2009). French Battleships 1922–1956. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
• Breyer, Siegfried. Battleships And Battle Cruisers 1905-1970. Doubleday & Company Inc. 1973
• http://3dhistory.de/wordpress/warship-drawings-warship-blue-prints-warship-plans/french-battleship-drawingsplan-sets-newest-first/french-battleship-courbet-as-build-1911/ 
• http://www.navypedia.org/ships/france/fr_bb_courbet.htm
• https://www.naval-encyclopedia.com/ww1/France/courbet-class-battleships
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courbet-class_battleship
• http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNFR_12-45_m1906.php
• http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNFR_55-55_m1910.php

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by WayOfTheWolk

[ItssLuBu 1,802]

Approved and open for discussion. 

[DoxerWhite@psn 82]

Any idea of the armament from when she was used as an AA battery ?

[Milocat 4,856]

Looks good to me, +1.

[sam_dom 87]

8 hours ago, DoxerWhite@psn said:

Any idea of the armament from when she was used as an AA battery ?

3 X1 40 mm Bofors

Edited November 22, 2020 by sam_dom

[DoxerWhite@psn 82]

@sam_dom In addition to the 1939 armament ?

 

I read 35 sailors remained on Courbet to man the anti-air when she got scuttled at Sword Beach on June 9th, 1944. Did she receive further anti-air armament for D-Day ?

[sam_dom 87]

3 hours ago, DoxerWhite@psn said:

@sam_dom In addition to the 1939 armament ?

 

I read 35 sailors remained on Courbet to man the anti-air when she got scuttled at Sword Beach on June 9th, 1944. Did she receive further anti-air armament for D-Day ?

NO , only three Bofors
You couldn't crew more Bofors whive 35 mens

Quote

Whitehall and the Free French authorities had plans for Courbet, which was turned into a ‘Gooseberry’, a block ship for Sword beach landings during the D-Day landings. Minus its engines and boilers it was fitted with some extra AA anti-aircraft guns.

Courbet was towed by the tugs Growler and Samsonia to Sword Beach as an obstruction to waves during troops landings. It also supplied covering fire manned by Free French sailors and British Army gunners.

 

Flying the Free French flag and a holed Cross of Lorraine she attracted the attention of the Luftwaffe besides the German batteries.

The German bombers thought that they had sunk the old battleship but it had been partly scuttled to form a permanent defence structure.

Courbet continued to give return fire throughout the landings, still proudly flying its battle-scarred French flag.

The enemy midget submarine Marder attacked and thought it had sunk Courbet during the nights of August 15-17, but it remained off Sword beach throughout the landings.
http://www.helensburgh-heritage.co.uk/index.php/heritage/military/1564-battleship-was-in-two-world-wars

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by sam_dom