That is a photoshop job of Battlecruiser O, a z-plan warship with three twin 15" guns that never made it off the drawing board.
damned photo shop again.... thanks for clearing that up kotori, this is the second time photo shop has fooled me in the same day...
ok everyone, one last pic, the top is a richilieu but the rest are a mistery to me, anyone know what these plans are?
Too bad they didn't build one of the bottom three instead. Would've been a much better balanced design.
You need to understand the design principles to understand the ship. The Richelieu was built as a counter to the Bismark. The expectation was that the Bismark would be used as a commerce raider since she was too big for the British cruisers to take on, she would be immune. The French designed a ship that was fast with the best fineness coefficient ever built and put her armor forward so she could fire all main guns in a chase. By placing the guns in quad turrets, the length of the main casment was reduced significantly with a huge reduction in weight. They built the Gloire class cruisers and the Le Hardie destroyers to equip a chase squadron that could sustain 32 knots with scouting destroyers that could do 39 knots. The hunt for the Bismark would have been a much different game if the Richelieu has been completed and worked up and sitting in Brest waiting. The schedule for that was only four to six months after the point the Germans attacked France. Britian knew this and was really counting on the French because they were more like a year or 18 months away from having the KGV class ships ready.
Very interesting, I always wondered why the all forward main armament of the french ships. Learn something new everyday. Thank you for the information. Kim
I had always thought it was for the same reason as the Nelsons'. To save armor weight by grouping the magazines close together.
That IS a factor. An all forward design allows you to have a shorter armored citadel...as the armor isn't extended aft to protect magazines and barbettes aft. That means thicker armor over the length and thus better protection on the same displacement then another "treaty" battleship. For the French, an added bonus to this feature was that it was expected to face Bismarcks. The Bismarcks were expected to flee in the face of a full battleship..their job was to kill merchants, not square off in a fair fight. That means that the Germans would have 4 guns pointed at the French as they attempt to disengage, while the French had a full 8 to shoot back with as they chase. The drawback was of course that the French would be at a SEVERE disadvantage should they be forced to attempt a withdrawl.
