Vive La France Collection
Revision as of 14:56, 1 February 2018 by
The chronicle of the French Navy that was established at the beginning of the seventeenth century due to the eminent Cardinal Richelieu's efforts includes many glorious and dramatic events. Within several centuries the French Navy was one of the most powerful fleets. Shipbuilding in France enriched the world engineering heritage with a big variety of ingenious findings and design concepts.
Battleships embodied the naval power of France and became the crowning of its shipbuilding. They were the reflection of their country's proud history. During World War II, aside with other combat units of the French Navy, they had to fulfill a lot of important tasks and pass a number of tragic challenges at a loss.
Collections
"Ships" Collection
Vive La France Collection - "Ships" Collection
The large destroyer Aigle, which was built at the dockyard in Dunkirk, joined the Naval Forces in 1932. The large destroyer (contre-torpilleur) type of warship, which combined the characteristics of destroyers and cruisers, was used only by France. Other countries relied on flotilla leaders instead. But unlike leaders, the French ships were designed to drive off opposing destroyers rather than lead destroyer flotillas.
During World War II, Aigle was engaged in operations to transport gold bars several times. In November 1939, it escorted Force "Z" ships (the battleship Lorraine and two cruisers of the La Galissonnière-class) until they reached the Atlantic. In March and April 1940, Aigle provided cover and later escorted the ships of Force "X" back. Besides that, Aigle was regularly deployed to escort convoys with troops, heading from the North African ports to Marseille. The last combat operation in which the large destroyer participated was a raid on Genoa, where it had to fend off the attacks of Italian torpedo boats.
"Ships" Collection — Reward
Completing this sub-collection provides the following rewards:
| Icon | Type | Effect |
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Vive La France |
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"Badges and Coats of Arms" Collection
Vive La France Collection - "Badges and Coats of Arms" Collection
Armand Jean du Plessis, the famous Cardinal Richelieu, was one of the most influential politicians in France and essentially the founder of the French Navy. Before Richelieu, the kingdom couldn't boast any organized navy. He helped create a fleet that would be recognized as a significant naval force in the international arena. The Cardinal himself was involved in designing the exterior décor and armament of one of the most powerful ships of that time: the 70-gun Couronne ("Crown").
The first warship to be named after Richelieu was an ironclad that joined the fleet in 1876. The next large combat unit of the Marine Nationale to carry the Cardinal's name was a battleship (displacement: 35,000 tons) that was laid down at the Brest Arsenal in 1935. That battleship turned out to be one of the best ships of its type in Europe.
"Badges and Coats of Arms" Collection — Reward
Completing this sub-collection provides the following rewards:
| Icon | Type | Effect |
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Valentine's 2017 |
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Lá Fhéile Pádraig |
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"Armaments" Collection
Vive La France Collection - "Armaments" Collection
In 1912, a decision was finally reached to proceed with building the third series of battleships for the French Navy. However, plans to make new ships of the Normandie class more powerful than their predecessors were hindered by production constraints, as at that time French shipyards were not big enough to allow for any significant increase in the size of warships. Moreover, the French didn't have guns that were more powerful than the 340mm guns, which were to be mounted on the Bretagne-class battleships that were at their final stages of construction, and the design of a new gun weapon system would be too expensive timewise. Ultimately, engineers came up with an innovative solution: to mount the main guns intended for the Normandie-class battleships in quad turrets.
The new turret, which would have become the first quad turret ever mounted on a ship, was designed to have a rate of fire of up to two shots per minute. The front armor plates protecting the guns were to have been 340mm thick. In total, plans were made to build 31 units: each of the five Normandie-class battleships laid down in 1913-1914 was supposed to carry three such turrets, while the Lyon-class warships ordered in 1915 were designed to carry as many as four.
The ship borne scout-bomber SBC Helldiver was manufactured by the U.S. firm Curtiss from 1937. In 1939, the French Government placed an order for several dozen of these biplanes for the French Navy. Their production, however, was delayed, and to fill the order a decision was made to provide France with 50 Helldiver bombers from operational U.S. Navy divisions. To accommodate French standards, the planes were renamed as Curtiss CW-77, and were urgently re-equipped with French machine guns and camouflaged accordingly.
However, as America had declared neutrality, it couldn't deliver bombers directly to France. A plan was devised to move the biplanes to Halifax, Canada, where they were to be fetched by the French aircraft carrier Béarn. At the last moment, the planes were prohibited to cross the Canadian border by air. They had to be dragged across the border using tractors and trucks available in the vicinity. At the beginning of June 1940, all biplanes were finally loaded onto the carrier. The news about the capitulation of France reached Béarn near the island of Martinique. All Helldivers were taken ashore, where they decayed after a few years without proper maintenance.
"Armaments" Collection — Reward
Completing this sub-collection provides the following rewards:
| Icon | Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
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Valentine's 2017 |
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Lá Fhéile Pádraig |
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Overall Reward
Completing the entire collection provides the following rewards:
| Icon | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
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Vive la France Flag |
| Nation | Commander Icon and Name |
Unique Traits | |
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 Jean-Jacques Honoré  Bougainville with 10 skill points
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Adrenaline Rush reduces the reload time of all types of armament by -0.25% for each 1% of HP lost. (normally -0.2%). |
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Expert Marksman improves turret rotation speed by +3.0 deg/s for guns with a caliber of up to 139 mm and 1.0 deg/s for guns with a caliber above 139 mm (normally +2.5 and 0.7, respectively). | ||
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