Courbet-class battleship

Jean Bart in 1914
Class overview
Name	Courbet class
Operators	French Navy Free French Navy
Preceded by	Danton class
Succeeded by	Bretagne class
Built	1910–1914
In service	1913–1945
Completed	4
Lost	1
Scrapped	3
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Dreadnought battleship
Displacement	23,475 t (23,104 long tons) (normal) 25,579 t (25,175 long tons) (full load)
Length	166 m (544 ft 7 in) (o/a)
Beam	27 m (88 ft 7 in)
Draught	9.04 m (29 ft 8 in)
Installed power	18 or 24 × water-tube boilers 28,000 PS (20,594 kW; 27,617 shp)
Propulsion	4 × shafts; 2 × steam turbine sets
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Endurance	4,200 nmi (7,800 km; 4,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	1,115 (1,187 as flagship)
Armament	6 × twin 305 mm (12 in) guns 22 × single 138 mm (5.4 in) guns 4 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 4 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armour	Waterline belt: 140–250 mm (5.5–9.8 in) Deck: 40–70 mm (1.6–2.8 in) Turrets: 250 mm (9.8 in) Conning tower: 266 mm (10.5 in)

The Courbet-class battleships were the first dreadnoughts built for the French Navy. These were completed prior to WWI. The class comprised four ships: Courbet, France, Jean Bart, and Paris. All four ships were deployed to the Mediterranean Sea for the entirety of World War I, spending most of their time escorting French troop convoys from North Africa and covering the Otranto Barrage. An Anglo-French fleet led by Courbet succeeded in sinking the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser Zenta in the Battle of Antivari. Jean Bart was torpedoed in the bow by U-12 on 21 December 1914, but she was able to steam to Malta for repairs.

France sank after striking a rock in Quiberon Bay in 1922. Between the wars the surviving ships were modernised several times, but they were not rebuilt thoroughly enough to prevent them from becoming obsolete in comparison to modern German or Italian battleships. They were relegated to training duties during the 1930s. Courbet and Paris escaped to Portsmouth where they became depot and accommodation ships after the French armistice in 1940. Jean Bart was demilitarised, renamed Océan, and became a school hulk in Toulon. She was captured there on 27 November 1942, although she was not scuttled. She was used for experiments with large shaped charge warheads by the Germans until she was sunk by the Allies in 1944, later broken up in place in 1945. Courbet was scuttled on 9 June 1944 as a breakwater for a Mulberry harbour used during the Battle of Normandy.