FS Montcalm

1937 COLD WAR WORLD WAR 2

• 1 FS Montcalm Story
• 2 FS Montcalm Specification
  • 2.1 Basic
  • 2.2 Roles
  • 2.3 Dimensions
  • 2.4 Weight
  • 2.5 Performance
  • 2.6 Performance
  • 2.7 Armor
  • 2.8 Wing

FS Montcalm Story

The light cruiser Montcalm was commissioned in 1937, the second of six La Galissonniere-class ships built in France. The class is well designed, with a length of nearly 600 feet and a displacement of approximately 9,120 tons when loaded. Her 9 x 6 inch, 54.3 caliber main gun (spread over three turret mounts) was considered state-of-the-art by 1937 standards.

Her gear turbines provided up to 84,000 shaft horsepower from her four boilers, enabling the vessel to maintain 31 knots. Forgotten by most, when World War II broke out in 1939, the French navy was indeed one of the best in the world - sponsored by the French Vichy government.

In September 1940, Vichy Moncalm, accompanied by her sister ships Marseillaise and Georges Leygues, was ordered to Dakar to engage British and Free French forces trying to occupy the port. Montcalm and her fleet helped repel the Allies. By February 1943 at Dakar, the alliance had changed, with the French Vichy army now joining the Allied forces under the Free French banner.

Montcalm and her two sister ships joined the uprising and now help against the Germans.

Three cruisers were inspected by the U.S. Navy and found to be dilapidated. It was decided to send the ships to the United States for overhaul and upgrades. So the Montcalm and her sister ship entered the Port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

After six months in dry dock, the ships received the latest radar technology and added anti-aircraft gun protection.

Montcalm and Georges Leygues were assigned to the fleet in support of Free France during the invasion of Europe on 6 June 1944 (D-Day). With water depths of only 17.5 feet, the Montcalm mission was able to bombard German coastal positions at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.

It was a tough day for French sailors when they were asked to fire on their homeland. Nonetheless, she continued to support Allied operations until the end of the European campaign in May 1945.

After the war, the French government sent them to Indochina in 1955 to raise the flag to support the French army. The Montcalm was officially decommissioned in Tunisia in 1957 and converted into a reserve ship for the French submarine school.

Renamed Q457 in 1969, she was quickly sold - the fate that awaited many warships.

FS Montcalm Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing