FAN Dunkerque (BB-1936)
Another drawing from the Deutschland Revolution series.
The French Navy was allowed by treaty to build at least two 35,000 ton
battleships. They would be within their rights to arm those ships with 16" guns.
So they did.
The news out of Germany that the Reichsmarine was building new ships armed with
anything from 11"-15" guns sent tremors through the French Navy high command.
Looking at the ships in the FAN that could take on these new ships, came down to
the three Lorraine type battleships. If they could catch these new German ships.
What was needed was a new fast battleship built to the limits of the Washington
Treaty. The FAN surmised that the most they might be facing was a ship armed
with four 15" with a speed of 25 knots. To counter that the new ships should be
armed with eight 16" guns, a 13" armoured belt with 6" of deck armour, and a
speed of 28 knots. The FAN designers found that this was unattainable on 35,000
tons, so they ignored the limits with official connivance and the ships were
designed at 37,500 tons standard displacement. The original thought was to arm
the ships with two quadruple turrets in a Nelson type arrangement, but the
complexity and sheer size required was just too much. The Model 1928 16" in twin
turrets was chosen instead. Secondary armament was to be the twin 130mm 1932
model dual purpose weapon system then under development. Smaller AA weapons of
37mm and 25mm were to be fitted. Aircraft facilities for three aircraft were to
be fitted and as a concession to excess weight, no hangar was fitted. A canvas
screen arrangement could be erected off the aft superstructure for maintenance
purposes.
The final design gave the following statistics:
Displacement: 38,000 tons standard, 43,700 tons full load.
Dimensions: 748 x 108 x 30 feet
Machinery: 4 shaft geared turbines, 140,000shp
Speed: 28 knots
Endurance: 12,500 nm @ 15 knots
Armour: 13" belt, 6" deck, 14/10/8" turrets
Armament:
8 x 16" (4x2)
16 x 5.1" (8x2)
16 x 37mm (8x2)
36 x 25mm (18x2)
Aircraft: 3
Crew: 1745