Heller 81086 Richelieu

Richelieu is a French battleship from the Second World War. The keel for this unit was laid in 1935, the launch took place in January 1939, and it was commissioned for service in the French Marine Nationale in June 1940. The full displacement of the ship at the time of launching was approximately 47,600 tons, 248 meters long and 33 meters wide. The maximum speed was up to 30 knots. The on-board armament consisted of: 8 380 mm guns in two turrets, 9 152 mm guns and 12 100 mm guns.

Richelieu was the first battleship to belong to the class of the same name. The Richelieu-class battleships were designed and built primarily as a French response to the Italian Littorio / Vittorio Veneto-class ships. It was designed to a lesser extent to counter the Kriegsmarine of the Bismarck class. All main artillery was placed in front of the unit - similar to the battleships HMS Rodney or HMS Nelson. The relatively good armor of the new French battleships was also taken care of. Richelieu did not take an active part in World War II. During the fighting in France in the summer of 1940, he was transported to Dakar, where the finishing works were also completed. He stayed in the port of Dakar until 1943, repelling, among other things, attacks by the British fleet as part of Operation Catapult. In January 1943, it was captured by the Allies and ended up in the British Royal Navy. In the same year it was rebuilt, and in March 1944 it was included in the British Pacific Fleet. In August 1944, he was returned to the French side. In March 1946 he returned to France. He took part in the conflict in Indochina and in the so-called Operation Musketeer related to the Suez crisis in 1956. Two years later (1958) he was placed in the reserve.