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| History | |
|---|---|
  France | |
| Name | Gloire |
| Namesake | Glory |
| Builder | Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde |
| Laid down | 13 November 1933 |
| Launched | 28 September 1935 |
| Commissioned | 15 November 1937 |
| Fate | Scrapped 1958 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | La Galissonnière-classcruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 179 m (587 ft) |
| Beam | 17.5 m (57 ft) |
| Draught | 5.35 m (17.6 ft) |
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph) |
| Range | 7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 540 |
| Armament |
|
| Armour |
|
| Aircraft carried |
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Gloire was a Frenchlight cruiser of theLa Galissonnière class.
TheLa Galissonnière class was designed as an enlarged and improved version of the precedingEmile Bertin. The ships had anoverall length of 179.5 meters (588 ft 11 in), abeam of 17.48 meters (57 ft 4 in), and adraft of 5.28 meters (17 ft 4 in). They displaced 7,722metric tons (7,600long tons) atstandard load and 9,460 t (9,310 long tons) atdeep load. Their crew consisted of 557 men in peacetime and 612 in wartime.[2]
After completing trials,Gloire arrived inBrest on 18 November 1937, then left forFrench Indochina on 1 December, returning to Brest on 16 April 1938.Gloire joined the 4th Cruiser Division in January 1939, with which she visited Britain and the United States. She was refitted between October and December 1939. She then sailed for Canada with thebattleshipDunkerque, carrying gold, and subsequently escorted a Canadian troopconvoy on her return. Atlantic patrols as part of Vice AdmiralMarcel-Bruno Gensoul'sForce de Raid followed. At the time of theFrench surrender in June 1940,Gloire was atAlgiers, but returned toToulon on 4 July, where the 4th Cruiser Division formed part of the FrenchIndependent Naval Force.
Gloire initially stayed loyal to theVichy French government.Free French Forces’ successes inChad andCameroon became politically embarrassing, and so theAxis Naval Commission permitted the despatch of the cruisersMontcalm andGeorges Leygues toDakar as Force Y. After an unchallenged passage pastGibraltar, for which the local British commander was removed, they arrived on 14 September. On 18 September the 4th Cruiser Division sailed forLibreville,French Equatorial Africa. They were intercepted by British forces.Gloire suffered machinery problems and was unable to outrun the British flotilla, so she turned back and she was 'escorted' intoCasablanca by theAllied cruisersHMAS Australia andHMS Cumberland and was therefore not present during the subsequentAllied attack on Dakar.
Between April and July,Gloire underwent a refit at Casablanca, and on 12 September 1942 took part in the rescue operations after the passenger linerLaconia had beensunk, arriving on the scene in the evening of 17 September.[3]
After the Allied invasion of north Africa (Operation Torch) and the consequent abrogation by the Germans of the armistice (Case Anton) in November 1942,Gloire rejoined the Allies. Three survivingLa Galissonnière-class cruisers, based at Dakar, were refitted in 1943. Unlike her sisters which were refitted atPhiladelphia, instead she was refitted atNew York.[4] removing aircraft installations and adding light anti-aircraft weapons.Gloire then operated from Dakar together with other French and Italian cruisers, searching for Axisblockade runners in the central and south Atlantic until 16 January 1944, when she moved to the Mediterranean.
_Fires_her_6_guns%2c_during_exercises_off_the_north_African_coast%2c_late_1943_or_early_1944._(50382590507).jpg)
In February, she supported the Allied landings atAnzio, bombarding enemy positions in theBay of Gaeta (firing 604 rounds) and transporting troops to Italy and Corsica. After a refit at Algiers between 27 April and 17 June, she participated in the landing in the south of France (Operation Dragoon) in August, firing nearly 2,000 rounds in shore support between 15 and 28 August.Gloire continued to support Allied forces along the French and Italian Rivieras until the end of the war, except for a special trip to the United States in December.
Postwar,Gloire made three deployments to Indo-China and she was finally placed in reserve on 1 February 1955, being condemned for disposal on 2 January 1958.
 French Navy | |
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 Regia Marina | |
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