Force de Raid:
French La Galissonnière Class
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
July 2023

French planning for a new cruiser to follow the heavy cruiser Algérie took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression, which hit France later and harder than it did most of the rest of the world. While Britain, Japan and the United States had agreed to stop building heavy cruisers in the 1930 London Treaty, France and Italy were under no such restriction. A gentleman’s agreement brought an end to new heavy cruisers from both powers, easing both budgetary and political stresses.

The Marine Nationale still required more cruisers, but looked for a more cost-effective ship than the impressive but high-priced Algérie. The new cruiser would weigh in at around 8,000 tons and carry nine 152mm guns. A division of three such ships would form part of the Force de Raid, alongside the new battle cruisers Dunkerque and Strasbourg and the super-destroyers Mogador and Volta. That would require a class of six ships (three to accompany each battle cruiser). The ships would be named La Galissonnière (for the hero of the 1756 Battle of Minorca), Jean de Vienne (Admiral of France during the Hundred Years War), La Marseillaise (for the French Republic’s national anthem), Gloire (carrying on the name of the world’s first ironclad battleship), Montcalm (for the defender of New France during the Seven Years’ War) and Georges Leygues (originally to be named Chateaurenault, but re-christened to honor the just-deceased wartime Navy Minister and former Prime Minister). Two ships were authorized and laid down in 1931, and four more authorized in 1932 and laid down in 1933.

Initial plans called for an armor scheme and internal protection similar to Algérie, but that would have resulted in the new ship displacing almost as much as the heavy cruiser with a much less potent main armament. She would use a similar scheme, but with less thickness to hold down weight. Layout and hull form for the new ship would be very similar to the previous light cruiser, Emile Bertin. They would carry the same armament as Emile Bertin, nine 152mm Model 1930 rifles in three triple turrets, two of them forward and one aft. Unlike those of the previous cruiser, these mounts would have armor protection (100mm on the turret faces, 50mm on the sides, 45mm on the roof and 40mm on the rear).

France's Glory: Cruiser Gloire in dazzle camouflage, early 1944.

The same weapons would serve as secondary armament on the new Richelieu-class fast battleships, with very similar mountings. The cruiser turrets did not elevate like those of the battleships, which were intended to also serve as anti-aircraft guns (a role they filled poorly). That allowed them to be somewhat narrower, but they still were designed for a high rate of fire – a supposed nine rounds per minute. The guns did not have an auto-loading mechanism; that feature had proven troublesome on the battleship mounts and the cruisers required much more manhandling of projectiles and charges. While they could come close to that rate of fire initially, it fell off sharply as the gun crews tired from lifting and moving the 56-kilogram (123-pound) armor-piercing round and 17.3-kilogram (38-pound) propellant charge.

Instead, she would carry eight 90mm anti-aircraft guns in four twin mounts, plus eight 13.2mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft machine guns. More of the latter would be added to some of the ships after completion. They only carried four torpedo tubes, two on either beam, and no reloads for them.

La Galissonnière had a wider hull than Emile Bertin, to allow for a larger power plant: her four new-model boilers and twin turbines made 84,000 horsepower, the same as Algérie, driving twin shafts. The wider engine rooms allowed for a shorter machinery space, so that the turrets and the barbettes and magazines below them could be brought closer to the center of the ship, allowing for a shorter armored citadel. Despite the broader hull, La Galissonnière had a designed speed of 34 knots, but all six ships topped 35 knots on trials and Gloire made just short of 37 knots. This did not match the claimed trials speed of the Italian light cruisers, but the actual speed of the French ships exceeded that of their Italian rivals.

La Galissonnière carried two or three seaplanes, with a hangar immediately forward of her aftmost turret. She had a catapult fixed to the aft turret, which was trained for launching by turning the turret. Firing the guns would usually damage the seaplane, so these were kept either inside the hangar or on top of it when not about to launch.

The cruisers had an armored belt of 105mm, considered sufficient against enemy 152mm shells but not the 203mm rounds of heavy cruisers. Internally, they were divided into 15 watertight compartments, and a 50mm armored deck. That was better protection than most foreign light cruisers, though still very little against larger enemies.

Cruiser Montcalm after refit at Philadephia Naval Yard, July 1943. Catapult and hangar have been removed and additional American anti-aircraft weapons fitted.

Labor shortages, heavy demands on French industry due to the massive rearmament programs underway, and work stoppages by labor unions all combined to slow construction of the six cruisers. La Galissonnière took four years to build, completing in 1935, while her five sisters did not join the fleet until 1937. They were very handsome ships, and superior to most foreign contemporaries – though by the time they commission, the Japanese, Americans and British were all building light cruisers in the 10,000-ton range with twelve to fifteen 152mm/6-inch guns.

Three of them (Georges Leygues, Montcalm and Gloire) formed the 4th Cruiser Division and spent the early part of the war with the Force de Raid based at Brest, supporting the battle cruisers Strasbourg and Dunkerque. The other three made up the 3rd Cruiser Division, and while pre-war plans would have added them to the Force de Raid as well, they began the war in the Mediterranean.

All six ships served the Vichy regime following the French Armistice of June 1940. Three would be scuttled at Toulon in November 1942 along with most of the French fleet, while the other three joined the Free French movement. Post-war the three survivors saw action in Indo-China before being stricken from service in the late 1950’s.

In our Second World War at Sea games, Georges Leygues, Montcalm and Gloire appear in the game Bismarck and see much more action in the Campaign Study, Bismarck: Force de Raid. La Galissonnière, Marseillaise and Jean de Vienne appear in the upcoming Middle Sea expansion set.

You can order Bismarck Playbook Edition here.

You can order Bismarck: Force de Raid here.

Triple Bismarck
      Bismarck (Playbook edition)
      Bismarck: Force de Raid
      Journal No. 31: Deluxe Bismarck
Retail Price: $112.97
Package Price: $90
Gold Club Price: $72
You can order Triple Bismarck right here.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published a great many books, games and articles on historical subjects; people are saying that some of them are actually good. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife and three children. He will never forget his Iron Dog, Leopold.

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