Last days of 2023. The idea of an AA cruiser using the quad 5.1" turrets has always intrigued me. The US did the Atlanta type with 16x5" in eight twin turrets which is a large duplication of parts. Too much was tried on too small a hull and the Atlanta's had to drop off turrets and torpedoes to get the weight down, Same with the RN's Dido class, started with five twins but ended with four twins that worked better. Both of those ships were too small for their armaments, which always surprises me with all the hundreds of years of producing ships for both countries. For me the hull of the La Galissoniere class should be just right.
With the laying down of the Dunkerque and Alsace classes the French had to build escorts that could keep up in both speed and endurance. Such ships were the La Galissoniere class ships. Meant to be dual purpose ships they were armed with the new quadruple 5.1" turret of which four were fitted per ship. This gave a very useful AA armament of 16 barrels. The ships were destroyer killers, the withering fire on small ships just blew them away, and with six torpedo tubes they had a few bigger teeth to take on ships larger than themselves.
One of the distinctive features was the fitting of three dual purpose directors to control one or more of the turrets. The La Galissoniere was in Brest having its boilers cleaned when the Armistice came and the ship was ordered to Plymouth to escape the Nazis. Operation Catapult turned the ship over to the Free French and it was transferred to Belfast for a complete refit of Electronics and light AA. December 1940 and the ship heads for Scapa Flow and its new permanent duty - AA escort to the big Commonwealth carriers.
The other members of the class received similar refits when they joined the Allied forces in 1942-43.
