French Battleships: 1922-1956 [Hardcover]

This book primarily covers the WWII-era French battleships Dunkerque, Strassbourg, Richelieu, and Jean Bart, from a technical and historical perspective. It appears to be an English-language update of French-language monographs written on this topic by one of the two authors, previously published by "Marines Editions".

The book is worth purchasing for its own sake, however. Although much of the material is similar to its predecessor, it is organized differently, and it is written in English. It also contains additional material, including 2 preliminary chapters discussing the planned/constructed French battleship predecessors of these ships, color plans and profiles showing paint schemes, and a bit more historical discussion. The book also exhibits very high-quality production values, with improved line drawings, diagrams, and photographs.

The bibliography is a bit sketchy.

Although I already own the Dulin/Garzke/Webb "Allied Battleships in World War Two", as well as the Dumas monographs mentioned above, and thus already have access to similar material, I was happy with my purchase.

This book has extremely large amounts of detailed information on many aspects of warship design that are skipped in other books. Details on the projectile design are excellent, for example. Since this is the "business end" of the warship's ability to defeat an enemy, the design of projectiles and how they work is important, second only to the fire-control system that aims them at the target (being able to hit is somewhat more important than best possible results when a hit occurs, if you have to pick one or the other). The various problems that occurred due to the designers "biting off more than they could chew" in some aspects of the design of these ships shows the importance of limiting the risk by using equipment that already exists or that is not a lot different from current designs -- the problems with the anti-aircraft systems is particularly informative. All-in-all, well worth the price if this is interesting to you.

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.