The destroyed French battleship Strasbourg at Toulon.
The light cruiser La Gallissoniere lies on her side next to the battleship Strasbourg.
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, Strasbourg battleship 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, the Strasbourg battleship was blown up by her crew and flooded near the quay wall with 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. To avoid bombing, the battleship raised from the bottom the Strasbourg battleship was transferred to Lazar Bay. On August 18, 1944, before the Allied landings in Toulon, 36 American B-25 aircraft dropped the battleship and the cruiser La Galissonière, which was next to it, 44 454 kg general-purpose bombs and 108 454 kg armor-piercing bombs on Strasbourg. The Strasbourg battleship was hit by 7 bombs in Strasbourg and it landed on the ground.
In 1946, the battleship Strasbourg was raised, but due to great destruction, it was not restored. It body was used for experiments with underwater explosions, and on May 27, 1955, his remains were sold for scrap.
Source of information about the Strasbourg battleship photo: tsushima.su
Location: Toulon, France
Photo time: 1944