Gloire: French cruiser (1935)

French cruiser Gloire.

Gloire was a French light cruiser of the La Galissonnière class.

General Information

Name: Gloire

Namesake: Glory

Builder: Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde

Laid down: 13 November 1933

Launched: 28 September 1935

Commissioned: 15 November 1937

Fate: Scrapped 1958

Design and Description

The La Galissonnière class was designed as an enlarged and improved version of the preceding Emile Bertin. The ships had an overall length of 179.5 meters (588 ft 11 in), a beam of 17.48 meters (57 ft 4 in), and a draft of 5.28 meters (17 ft 4 in). They displaced 7,722 metric tons (7,600 long tons) at standard load and 9,460 t (9,310 long tons) at deep load. Their crew consisted of 557 men in peacetime and 612 in wartime.

Specifications

Class and type: La Galissonnière-class cruiser

Displacement:      

7,600 tons (standard)

9120 tons (full load)

Length: 179 m (587 ft)

Beam: 17.5 m (57 ft)

Draught: 5.35 m (17.6 ft)

Propulsion:

2-shaft Parsons single reduction geared turbines

4 Indret boilers

84,000 shp (63,000 kW)

Speed: 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph)

Range: 7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)

Complement: 540

Armament: 

Initial

9 × 152 mm (6.0 in)/55 guns (3 × 3)

8 × 90 mm (3.5 in) AA (4 × 2)

8 × 37 mm (1.5 in) light AA (4 × 2)

12 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) light AA (4 × 3)

4 × 550 mm (22 in) torpedo tubes (2 × 2)

Vichy refit (1941)

9 × 152 mm (6.0 in)/55 guns (3 × 3)

8 × 90 mm (3.5 in) AA (4 × 2)

9 × 37 mm (1.5 in) light AA (4 × 2, 1 × 1)

2 × 25 mm (0.98 in) light AA (1 × 2)

16 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) light AA (4 × 3, 2 × 2)

4 × 550mm (21.7 inch) torpedo tubes (2 × 2)

Allies refit (1943)

9 × 152 mm (6.0 in)/55 guns (3 × 3)

8 × 90 mm (3.5 in) AA (4 × 2)

24 × 40 mm (1.6 in) AA (4 × 6)

16 × 20 mm (0.79 in) light AA (1 × 16)

4 × 550mm (21.7 inch) torpedo tubes (2 × 2)

Armor:       

Main belt: 105 mm (4 in)

End bulkheads: 30 mm (1.2 in)

Sides: 120 mm (4.7 in)

Deck: 38 mm (1.5 in)

Turrets: 100 mm (4 in)

Conning tower: 95 mm (3.7 in)

Aircraft carried:    

up to 4 GL-832, later 2 Loire 130 flying boats

1 catapult

Construction and Career

After completing trials, Gloire arrived in Brest on 18 November 1937, then left for French Indochina on 1 December, returning to Brest on 16 April 1938. Gloire joined the 4th Cruiser Division in January 1939, with which she visited Britain and the United States. She was refitted between October and December 1939. She then sailed for Canada with the battleship Dunkerque, carrying gold, and subsequently escorted a Canadian troop convoy on her return. Atlantic patrols as part of Vice Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul's Force de Raid followed. At the time of the French surrender in June 1940, Gloire was at Algiers, but returned to Toulon on 4 July, where the 4th Cruiser Division formed part of the French Independent Naval Force.

Gloire initially stayed loyal to the Vichy French government. Free French Forces’ successes in Chad and Cameroon became politically embarrassing, and so the Axis Naval Commission permitted the dispatch of the cruisers Montcalm and Georges Leygues to Dakar as Force Y. After an unchallenged passage past Gibraltar, for which the local British commander was removed, they arrived on 14 September. On 18 September the 4th Cruiser Division sailed for Libreville, French Equatorial Africa. They were intercepted by British forces. Gloire suffered machinery problems and was unable to outrun the British flotilla, so she turned back and she was 'escorted' into Casablanca by the Allied cruisers HMAS Australia and HMS Cumberland and was therefore not present during the subsequent Allied attack on Dakar.

Between April and July, Gloire underwent a refit at Casablanca, and on 12 September 1942 took part in the rescue operations after the passenger liner Laconia had been sunk, arriving on the scene in the evening of 17 September.

After the Allied invasion of north Africa (Operation Torch) and the consequent abrogation by the Germans of the armistice (Case Anton) in November 1942, Gloire rejoined the Allies. Three surviving La Galissonnière-class cruisers, based at Dakar, were refitted in 1943. Unlike her sisters which were refitted at Philadelphia, instead she was refitted at New York. removing aircraft installations and adding light anti-aircraft weapons. Gloire then operated from Dakar together with other French and Italian cruisers, searching for Axis blockade runners in the central and south Atlantic until 16 January 1944, when she moved to the Mediterranean.

In February, she supported the Allied landings at Anzio, bombarding enemy positions in the Bay of Gaeta (firing 604 rounds) and transporting troops to Italy and Corsica. After a refit at Algiers between 27 April and 17 June, she participated in the landing in the south of France (Operation Dragoon) in August, firing nearly 2,000 rounds in shore support between 15 and 28 August. Gloire continued to support Allied forces along the French and Italian Rivieras until the end of the war, except for a special trip to the United States in December.

Postwar, Gloire made three deployments to Indo-China and she was finally placed in reserve on 1 February 1955, being condemned for disposal on 2 January 1958.

Bibliography

Jordan, John & Moulin, Jean (2013). French Cruisers 1922–1956. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.

Whitley, M. J. (1995). Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell.

 French light cruiser Gloire (1935-58) in dazzle camouflage, fires her six guns during exercises off the North African coast, late 1943 or early 1944. 

French light cruiser Gloire, New York, 1943. This was the US "Adaptor" scheme, which as far as we can tell at this point was a "local" favorite of the supervisor of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and one he kept pushing for. It's literally based on one of the official World War I dazzle schemes but wasn't issued by the camouflage division of the Navy's Bureau of Ships. They were lukewarm on it as the pattern was small enough that at distance a lot of the stripes lost definition and the apparent course deception effect wasn't as effective as it would suggest close up. Camouflage on ships like this was not intended to hide them, it was to make it more difficult to determine a ship's direction and speed and, therefore make it harder to target. 

French Galissonnière class light cruiser, Gloire, in dazzle camouflage. 

French cruiser Gloire in the North River, New York's World Fair, July 10, 1939. 

French light cruiser Gloire. 

Gloire at Anzio in 1944. 

Free French cruiser Gloire, in dazzle camouflage, with ship's company on deck saluting the British King George VI as he passed by in the anchorage at Naples, circa 1944. (Imperial War Museum photo A 24997) 

French light cruiser Gloire. 

Loading an English aircraft carrier and the French cruiser Gloire at Algiers. 

French cruiser Gloire. 

French light cruiser Gloire at New York City in July 1939. The Moran Company tug Richard L. Moran appears alongside in the foreground. (Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 91634)