An American soldier on the deck of the destroyed French battleship Strasbourg in Toulon. On the side of the battleship lies the light cruiser La Gallissoniere.
The battleship Strasbourg entered service on April 6, 1939. Since the beginning of World War II, since October 1939, the ship, as part of “Compound X”, together with the British fleet, took part in the hunt for the German “pocket” battleship Admiral Graf Spee. Then, until the very surrender of France, he accompanied the French convoys. After the surrender of France during Operation Catapult, the ship was not injured and broke through from Mers-el-Kebir to Toulon. On the morning of December 27, 1942, “Strasbourg” was blown up by her team and flooded near the quay wall at the threat of the capture of Toulon by German troops. Later, it was raised on July 17, 1943 by the Italians, who removed the catapult from it, dismantled the superstructure for scrap and removed the armor from one of the turrets of the main caliber. In order to avoid bombing, the lifted Strasbourg was transferred to the Lazar Bay. On August 18, 1944, before the Allied landings in Toulon, 36 American B-25 aircraft dropped 44,454-kg general-purpose bombs and 108,454-kg semi-armor-piercing bombs on Strasbourg battleship and the La Galissoniere next to it. The battleship was hit by 7 bombs and landed on the ground. In 1946, the ship was raised, but due to large destruction it was not restored. The hull was used for experiments with underwater explosions, and on May 27, 1955, its remains were sold for scrap.
Location: Toulon, France
Photo time: August 1944