Courbet was the lead ship of her class of four dreadnought battleships, the first ones built for the French Navy. She was completed shortly before the start of World War I in August 1914. She spent the war in the Mediterranean, where she helped to sink an Austro-Hungarian cruiser, covered the Otranto Barrage, and often served as a flagship. Although upgraded several times before World War II, she was not considered to be a first-line battleship by the 1930s and spent much of that decade as a gunnery training ship. A few weeks after the German invasion of France on 10 May 1940, Courbet was hastily reactivated. She supported Allied troops in the defence of Cherbourg in mid-
About French battleship Courbet (1911) in brief
Courbet was the lead ship of her class of four dreadnought battleships, the first ones built for the French Navy. She was completed shortly before the start of World War I in August 1914. She spent the war in the Mediterranean, where she helped to sink an Austro-Hungarian cruiser, covered the Otranto Barrage, and often served as a flagship. Although upgraded several times before World War II, she was not considered to be a first-line battleship by the 1930s and spent much of that decade as a gunnery training ship. A few weeks after the German invasion of France on 10 May 1940, Courbet was hastily reactivated. She supported Allied troops in the defence of Cherbourg in mid-June, taking refuge in England shortly afterwards. The ship was disarmed in early 1941 and was used as a target ship during 1943. Her engines and boilers were removed in 1944 to prepare her for use as a breakwater during the Normandy landings in June 1944. She was scrapped in situ after the war. The Courbet-class ships carried enough coal and fuel oil to give them a range of 4,200 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. The main battery of the Courbet class consisted of twelve Canon de 305-millimetre mle 1906–1910 guns mounted in six twin-gun turrets, with two pairs of superfiring turrets fore and aft of the superstructure, and a pair of wing turrets amidships.
The ships were 166 metres long overall and had a beam of 27 metres and a mean draught of 9. 04 metres. They displaced 23,475 tonnes at normal load and 25,579 tonnes at deep load. Their crew numbered 1,115 men as a private ship and 1,187 when serving as a Flagship. The ships had a designed speed of 21 knots, although Courbet only reached 20. 8 knots during her sea trials. The gun turrets were protected by 250–360 millimetres of armour and 160-millimeter plates protected the casemates in the hull. The curved armoured deck was 40 mm thick on the flat and 70 mm on the outer slopes. The conning tower had 266 mm thick face and sides. Courbet and her sister Jean Bart were assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron of the 1 st Naval Army, 1st Naval Army, 1st Battle Squadron of the French Naval Army and 1st Navy Army. By the time that France declared war on January 5, 1914, the fleet had a total of 5,700,000 men. Courbet became the flagship of Vice-miral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, commander of the 1st Battle Squadron, on 5 January 1914, and was commissioned into the fleet on 19 November. She became the commander of Vice Admiral Alain Boué de Lapey de Lyrère on 5 August 1913.
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