After the (useless) split of the Japanese and recently the Russian dd lines
, finally it's time again to introduce a completely new line.Tatatata..... the French cruisers jeeei.
Oke no idea when they're coming out, and knowing wargaming it can be next week or next month but we're kinda used to that.
well, let's have a look at them.
The tier 1. Bougainville.
Well it's a tier 1 who cares.
The tier 2. Jurien de la Gravière.
Little background info.
The Jurien de la Gravière was the last protected cruiser built for the french.
She was laid down in 1897 and commissioned in 1903 and ended her service in 1921 and one year later she was sold for scrap
Is there anything worth mentioning about her... well what caught my eye is that she has 8 164mm gun which is quite big for tier 2... so that's interesting.
Tier 3. Friant.
Well the Friant never actually existed, it's a project from 1919 which was one of the projects that led to Duguay-trouin (tier 4)
Tier 4. Duguay-Trouin.
The First major french warships built after ww1.
Designed with the idea that Italie would be the most logical opponent.
The french looked over the same newly commissioned cruisers of other navies like for instance the Omaha class and eventually using the hull of the Omaha.
Then Put on 8 155mm guns, 4 75mm anti-air gun and 12 torpedo tubes an voila.
Laid down: 1922 and the last one ended her service in 1952.
Tier 5. Emile Bertin
It's the first to have the 2 turret's in front 1 in the back layout that the rest of the French cruisers will have.
152 mm (so still light cruiser) no armor to speak of... probably pretty quick. and some torps.. I get a little bit of a omaha vibe.
Tier 6. La Galissonniere
Little bit of the same 155mm 3 turrets 2 front 1 back.
La galissonniere class cruiser was the last cruisers to be built for the french navy before ww2.
When the germans conquered France, they installed the Vichy government.
3 of the cruisers held under Vichy control in Toulon were scuttled in on November 27, 1942.
The other cruisers of the La galissonniere class were quite successful in ww2 and took part in various allied operations, including the Normandy landings.
Tier 7. Algerie.
The First heavy cruiser.
She shut have reasonable armor, 8 203mm guns and 6 torps.
She was built in response to the Italian Zara-Class cruisers, Having better armor.
She was considered one of the best heavy cruiser designs at the time.
Only one was ever built but unfortunately, she was also scuttled at Toulon on November 27 1942.
Tier 8. Charles Martel
This ship was never actually built, so can't find much about it.
It's got 9 203 mm guns 6 torps and I think she'll probably have decent armor.
Tier 9. Saint Louis
It's also a paper ship, which is logical, french ship development stopped when the germans took over.
But again 9 times 203mm and 6 torps.
And then the Tier 10. Henri IV
Well, couldn't find anything about this one.
It looks like an upgraded version of the Saint Louis.
probably 9x 203mm with a pretty high caliber.
And that are the French Cruisers.
The French navy didn't have a very big role in ww2, but in ww1 they carried their weight, in particular in the Mediterranean.
at the start of ww1 they had in the Mediterranean's; 21 battleships (including four newly-commissioned dreadnoughts and 6 "Danton" class pre-dreadnoughts), 15 cruisers, around 43 destroyers and 15 submarines.
So enough ships to make up a battleship and a destroyer line, but we'll probably have to wait a long time for those.
let's hope the cruisers don't take to long, and I'm really curious what the french cruiser thing will be... you know Japanese have their torps, British got their smoke and semi AP etc.. what will be the french thing.