The French Navy was allowed by treaty to build at least two 35,000 ton battleships. They would be within their rights to arm those ships with 16" guns. So they did.
The news out of Germany that the Reichsmarine was building new ships armed with anything from 11"-15" guns sent tremors through the French Navy high command. Looking at the ships in the FAN that could take on these new ships, came down to the three Lorraine type battleships. If they could catch these new German ships. What was needed was a new fast battleship built to the limits of the Washington Treaty. The FAN surmised that the most they might be facing was a ship armed with four 15" with a speed of 25 knots. To counter that the new ships should be armed with eight 16" guns, a 13" armoured belt with 6" of deck armour, and a speed of 28 knots. The FAN designers found that this was unattainable on 35,000 tons, so they ignored the limits with official connivance and the ships were designed at 37,500 tons standard displacement. The original thought was to arm the ships with two quadruple turrets in a Nelson type arrangement, but the complexity and sheer size required was just too much. The Model 1928 16" in twin turrets was chosen instead. Secondary armament was to be the twin 130mm 1932 model dual purpose weapon system then under development. Smaller AA weapons of 37mm and 25mm were to be fitted. Aircraft facilities for three aircraft were to be fitted and as a concession to excess weight, no hangar was fitted. A canvas screen arrangement could be erected off the aft superstructure for maintenance purposes.
Four ships of the class were to be built.
Dunkerque was completed in 1936 and made a favourable impression on its debut at King George VI coronation naval review in 1937 at Spithead.
Strasbourg was completed in 1938 and joined the Dunkerque.
Richelieu was completed in December 1939 and joined the other two ships at Brest.
Jean Bart was due for completion late 1940 but had to be evacuated from France incomplete to the North African port of Casablanca. Subsequently an explosion during the Torch landings in 1942, sunk the ship in shallow water. The hull was cannibalised for the four 16" turrets to produce the new battleship FAN Gascogne.
The three active ships were at Mers-el-Kebir when the French surrender took place. There they remained except for short dashes to Toulon for maintenance that could not be done locally.
