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''France'' was the last ship of the s, the first dreadnoughts built for the French Navy. She was completed just before World War I as part of the 1911 naval building programme. She spent the war in the Mediterranean, covering the Otranto Barrage in the Adriatic. ''France'', accompanied by her sister ship , was sent to the Black Sea in 1919 to oppose the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. Her crew briefly mutinied in April 1919 from a combination of war-weariness, Communist sympathizers in the crew and difficult conditions. The mutiny and general lack of morale among her crew caused her to return to France later that month.〔Masson, pp. 106–22〕 Striking an uncharted rock off the French coast in 1922, she foundered four hours later. ==Description== ''France'' was long overall. She had a beam of and at full load a draft of at the bow. She displaced at standard load and at full load.〔Dumas, p. 223〕 She proved to be rather wet in service as she was bow-heavy because of the superimposed turrets forward.〔Gardiner & Gray, p. 197〕 ''France'' had four propellers powered by four Parsons direct-drive steam turbines which were rated at . Twenty-four Belleville water-tube boilers provided steam for her turbines. These boilers were coal-burning with auxiliary oil sprayers.〔Whitley, p. 36〕 She had a designed speed of .〔 She carried up to of coal and of oil and could steam for at a speed of .〔 ''France''s main armament consisted of twelve 45-calibre guns were mounted in six twin gun turrets, with two turrets superimposed fore and aft, and one on each flank of the ship. For anti-torpedo boat defence she carried 22 guns, which were mounted in casemates. Four Modèle 1902 Hotchkiss guns were fitted, two on each beam. She was also armed with four submerged Modèle 1909 torpedo tubes with twelve torpedoes.〔 ''France''s waterline armoured belt extended well below the waterline as the French were concerned about protection from underwater hits. Her main armour was also thinner than that of her British or German counterparts, but covered more area. It was thick between the fore and aft turrets and tapered to towards the bow and stern. It extended below the normal waterline. Above the main belt was another belt, 180 mm thick, that covered the sides, and the secondary armament, up to the forecastle deck, deep, between the fore and aft turrets. The conning tower had armour thick. The main gun turrets had of armour on their faces, on their sides and roofs thick. Their barbettes had of armour. There was no anti-torpedo bulkhead although there was a longitudinal bulkhead abreast the machinery spaces that was used either as a coal bunker or left as a void.〔Whitley, p. 35〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「French battleship France」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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