Warship Quiz # 23

[Jester]

[Fencer51]

Its the Richelieu or Jean Bart.  French Battleship.  Most likely the Richelieu.

[TDeacon]

Assuming this is a real, unmodified image, this would be Richelieu, at some point in time after her 1943 refit in the New York Navy Yard.  It might be after the end of WWII.  

I base this conclusion on the missing 3rd-level 152mm fire control director, and the addition of light AA at the rear of turret #2 over the armored rangefinder ears.  These changes were made during the 1943 refit; prior to which Richelieu looked quite different.  

I have NO idea when Richelieu would have been firing her main armament while moored at a quay.  It is not Jean Bart at Casablanca, as Jean Bart would have been on the other side of the quay, had no guns in turret 2 (which is firing here), and had an extemporized main-battery director.

[Jester]

French Battleship RICHELIEU it is!

Congrats!  

NOTE: The picture is unaltered and shows the ship at Dakar returning fire on British ships outside the harbor. You mention the guns in turret 2 not being fitted yet - if you will look close what you are seeing is actually the guns of turret 1 at full defflection & traverse so they are kind of superimposed over turret 2. Look real close - they go below where the base of turret 2 is.

RICHELIEU CLASS BB SPECS:

Type: Battleship
Class: Richelieu
No in Class: 2 (Sister Jean Bart)
Displacement: 35000 BRT  
Length: 248 meters  
Complement: 1550 men  
Armament As designed;
8x 15"/45 guns (2x4).
9x 6"/55 guns (3x3).
12x 3.9"/45 DP guns (6x2).
8x 37mm AA (4×2).
16x 13mm AA (4×4).
3x aircraft, 2 catapults.  
Max speed: 32 knots
Engines: Geared turbines, 4 shafts  
Power: 150000 SHP  

History: The unfinshed Richelieu (Captain Marzin) left Brest for Dakar under her own power on 18 June 1940 escorted by the French destroyers Fougeaux and Frondeur, the ship arrived at Dakar on 23 June 1940.
Commissioned at Dakar on 15 July 1940 when only 95% omplete.
Damaged in the British attack on Dakar on 8 July 1940.
Joined the Allies in late 1942.
Refitted in the U.S.A. at the New York Navy Yard from February until October 1943.
Rearmed with U.S. pattern Anti-Aircraft guns, 56-40 mm (14x4) and 48-20 mm (48x1).
Richelieu served with the British Home Fleet from November 1943-March 1944, then transferred to the British Eastern Fleet arriving in Ceylon on 12 April 1944, in time to participate in the attack on Sabang on April 19th.
After the war she served of Indo-China.
Decommissioned in 1956.
Stricken in 1959 and hulked as an accommodation ship in Brest.
Scrapped in 1968.

[TDeacon]

Jester, I'm not entirely convinced of the date of your ID on this one, due to the 2 recognition features I mentioned in my paragraph 2.  For example, images from July 1940 in "Allied Battleships of World War II" by Garzke, et.al.,show all 3 levels of gun director on the main tower-mast.  Do you have a larger version of your image?  It seems to show only 2 levels, plus the AA.  

 Hmm; I suppose it is possible that turret 1 and 2 are exactly lined up...; wish the image was clearer.  

Also, according to my sources, Richelieu was berthed out in the roads (not at a quay) on July 8th, 1940, when she was seriously damaged by British aircraft torpedoes.  After sustaining this damage, whe was later moved to a quay, where she was attacked again during the abortive invasion attempt of September 23, 1940.  

(BTW, note that my comment on turret 2 referred to her sister ship, Jean Bart).

[Jester]

My source lists her as RICHELIEU - I cannot think of any other reason she would be fireing her main armament from "quayside" than she was under attack and returning fire against large ships.

Perhaps you are right - but from the low quality of the pic, I think we both might be reading too much into it - maybe that is something else besides the fire control director there.

Unknown.