FRENCH BATTLESHIP PROVENCE

The French battleship 'Provence'.
Career	French Navy Ensign
Built by:	Arsenal de L'Orient
Laid down:	1 May 1912
Launched:	20 April 1913
Commissioned:	June 1915
Fate:	Scuttled, 27 November 1942
Struck:
General characteristics
Displacement:	23,230 tons standard, 25,000 tons full load
Length:	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 - 340 mm (13.4 inch) guns (5 × 2) ★ 22 - 138.6 mm guns (22 × 1) ★ 4 - 47 mm guns ★ 4 - 450 mm torpedo tubes
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 honor of the French region of Provence.

Contents

Construction

Service

Gallery

References

Construction

She was built by Arsenal de L'Orient, 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 13.4-inch main guns from the cancelled ''Normandie''-class battleships. The main guns were mounted two per turret; two centerline superfiring forward, two centerline superfiring aft and one amidships centerline turret that could fire to both sides.

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 13.4-inch 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.

Gallery

References

★ Haze Gray & Underway, Battleship Lists (HTML) Accessed 10 August 2007.