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The ''Normandie'' class of dreadnought battleships was a group of five ships ordered for the French Navy in 1912–1913. The class comprised ''Normandie'', the lead ship, ''Flandre'', ''Gascogne'', ''Languedoc'', and . The design incorporated a radical arrangement for the twelve 340 mm main battery guns: three quadruple gun turrets, as opposed to the twin turrets used by most other navies. The first four ships were also equipped with an unusual hybrid propulsion system that used both steam turbine and triple expansion engines to increase fuel efficiency. The ships, named after provinces of France, were never completed due to shifting production requirements after the outbreak of war in 1914. The first four ships were sufficiently advanced in construction to permit their launching to clear the shipyards for other, more important work. Many of the guns built for the ships were instead converted for use by the Army. After the war, the French Navy considered several proposals to complete the ships, either as originally designed or modernized to account for lessons from the war. The weak French post-war economy, however, necessitated that the first four ships be broken up for scrap. The last ship, which was not significantly advanced at the time work halted, was converted into an aircraft carrier in the 1920s. She remained in service in various capacities until the 1960s. The ship was ultimately scrapped in 1967. == Development == In December 1911, the French Navy's Technical Committee issued a report that examined the design of the that had been ordered for 1912. They concluded that the amidships gun turret was an unsatisfactory choice, based on previous experiences with blast damage on battleships from the 1880s. This position influenced the construction of the next class of dreadnought battleships, for which design work began shortly thereafter. The French Navy's design staff submitted the first draft of the new dreadnought design in February 1912. The size of French shipyard facilities significantly impacted the design. Length was limited to , breadth to , and draft to approximately . These dimensions limited the ship to a displacement of around and a speed of , depending on the armament arrangement. The design staff advocated retaining the same armament and armor as the previous ''Bretagne'' class, and a top speed of 21 knots. The design staff prepared another version that was armed with a main battery of sixteen guns in four quadruple turrets and had a top speed of 20 knots. The Technical department prepared two different designs for the propulsion system. Four direct drive steam turbines were proposed, as in the ''Bretagne'' class; the other option was a hybrid system that used a pair of direct drive turbines on the inner two propeller shafts, and two reciprocating steam engines on the outer shafts for low-speed cruising. The latter design was adopted for the new ships, as the all-turbine system was less fuel-efficient. The fifth ship, , however, was instead equipped with four sets of turbines. The armor layout of the ''Bretagne'' class was retained, and the full load draft fixed at no greater than . The next issue to be addressed was the main armament. The General Staff decided in March 1912 to retain the gun of the ''Bretagne'' class. They chose the new quadruple turret and advocated an armament of twelve guns in two quadruple and two double turrets. If this arrangement placed too much weight on the bow and stern, the arrangement of five twin turrets as in the ''Bretagne''-class battleships would be substituted. In April 1912, the Naval Supreme Council accepted the latter design, unless the quadruple turret could be readied by the time construction was scheduled to begin. The armor layout of the ''Bretagne'' class was to be retained, though an increase in the thickness of the main belt was to be effected if possible. The Technical Department prepared two new designs, A7, which incorporated the five twin turrets, and A7bis, which was armed with three quadruple turrets. The A7bis design was some lighter than the A7 design, and on 6 April, the Navy accepted a quadruple turret design submitted by Saint-Chamond. The secondary battery was initially to have comprised twenty-two guns, but by subtracting four guns, twelve guns could be added for the same weight. The 100 mm design was not completed by the time work was scheduled to begin, so the 138.6 mm gun was chosen. The Technical Department had initially proposed mounting the secondary guns in single and twin turrets, but it was determined that this arrangement was not flexible enough. Instead, they were mounted in casemates in eight groups of three guns. 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「Normandie-class battleship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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