French cruiser Duquesne (1925)

Duquesne was a French heavy cruiser and name ship of her class that served during World War II.

Design and description
The design of the Duquesne class was derived from an enlarged version of the light cruiser armed with 203 mm guns. The ships had an overall length of 191 m, a beam of 19 m, and a draft of 6.45 m. They displaced 10000 LT at standard load and 12435 t at deep load. Their crew normally consisted of 605 men and increased by 32 when serving as flagships.

Service history
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Duquesne was part of the Force X, under Vice Admiral Godfroy. In January 1940, she took part in the hunt for the GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Graf Spee, and later returned to Alexandria. On 3 July, the French squadron under Admiral René-Emile Godfroy in Alexandria was blockaded by the British executing Operation Catapult ; Godfroy avoided destruction by negotiating to disarm his fleet and stay in port until the end of the war. In June 1943, Duquesne was incorporated in the Free French Naval Forces and served in the Atlantic.

She undertook a refit in 1945, and served in French Indochina until 1947.