Dunkerque was somewhat unique in displaying all of her primary armament in just two forward turrets, these being quadrupled-gunned emplacements set over the forecastle with clear firing arcs over the bow and to either side. The weapons were of 330mm caliber Modele 1931 naval guns packing a considerable punch at range and were spaced just far enough apart so as to not have both knocked out in a single direct hit. Secondary armament was spread out over 16 x 130mm Dual-Purpose (DP) guns and airspace denial was granted through use of 8 x 37mm autocannons and 32 x 13.2mm heavy machine guns.
Dunkerque's construction was financed under the earlier 1931 French defense budget of 1931 and built in the French port city of Brest. From there, she sailed out to undertake her requisite seat trials which lasted into 1937. When war broke out with neighboring Germany in September of 1939, Dunkerque and her sister were actively used in the Atlantic to help protect vital French shipping convoys. During October of that year, Dunkerque served as flagship of "Force L" and was part of the contingent charged with hunting down the German Pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee.
FS Dunkerque officially served with the French fleet until the Fall of France in May-June of 1940. The following month, the ship was shelled where she berthed at Mers-el-Kebir (French Algeria, North Africa) by the British and, just a few days later, took damage from aerial torpedoes which left her crippled (the overall action also claimed 210 French sailors). Basic repairs were applied to the ship so she could be moved to relative safety in French waters - to which point she was relocated across the Mediterranean to the port city of Toulon in the south of France. It was there, on November 27th, 1942, that FS Dunkerque was scuttled by her crew to prevent her being taken over by the Axis. The Italians assumed initial ownership and stripped her of her war-making usefulness but then the hull fell to the Germans after the Italian surrender of September 1943. The French government finally reclaimed the vessel in 1945 after Toulon was liberated but her hull was not raised until after the war in 1955. She was unceremoniously scrapped in 1958.
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