French Miniatures

[regiamarina]

Hey All

just wondering if someone new of a manufacturer doing the French Courbet class battleships or Bretagne class battleships in 1/2400 scale? I know GHQ does the modified Bretagne with the central turret removed and replaced by aircraft hangers and catapults but I was hoping to find an original version. Cheers.

Martin

[shigure]

I checked the Panzerschiffes website and under the WWI offerings they have the following:
A-133 Bretagne
www.panzerschiffe.com/images/A-133.jpg
A-134 Courbet
www.panzerschiffe.com/images/A-134.jpg

Panzerschiffes website homepage.
www.panzerschiffe.com/index.html

[regiamarina]

Thanks very much Shigure. I completely forgot about Panzerschiffe miniatures.

Regards
Marty

[shigure]

I made several masters for Panzerschiffes years ago, so I check to see what he has come out with recently. I have a couple I might send him again. One is a WWII RN "L" class AA DD.

Thinking of using the French BB's in a WWI or WWII scenario?

[regiamarina]

Rounding out my WW2 forces for the French. Can't always hit the table with a Richelieu and Strabourg.

Regards
Martin

[shigure]

According to "French Warships of WWII" by Jean Labayle Couhat, the Courbet class was only capable of 16 knots in 1939.

The Bretagne class was still capable of 20+ knots. The Bretagne's were extensively refitted during 1932-35 with improved armour protection and small tube, oil-burning boilers. Didn't see anything about increasing the main gun elevation. Would have been interesting to see what kind of resistance the Bretagne & Provence would have put if they could have been at sea instead of immobilized at Mers-el-Kebir's.

[regiamarina]

I knew the Courbets were little better than floating fire support platforms but I hadn't realised they had slowed down that much.

I'm mostly after them for the Mers-el-Kebir scenario and for some fun what if scenarios in the Med against the Italians. Don't expect too much from them. It's also the reason I added a HMS Australia to my Australian navy for the Pacific, what if it hadn't been sunk as part of the Washington Treaty. It doesn't do too much against the Japanese but it does make for interesting scenarios with a bit of a difference.

[shigure]

As built the Courbets and the Bretagne's both had the same roughly the same HP (28,000 vs. 29,000). The 1932-35 rebuild upped the Bretagne's to 43,000 HP.

My assumption is that with all the money the French were spending on the Maginot Line there was not much for modernization of the Courbets. Not only that, but most of the world's major navies had scrapped or were in the process of replacing their 12" gun armed BB's. The USN had the Arkansas slated for replacement and the Italians were modernizing their 12" gunned BB's (to 12.6").

For wargaming purposes I would still rate the Courbets at 21 knots. Otherwise they are only good as convoy escorts.

[Bluebear]

Shigure,

Certainly one ship that I would like to see in the Panzerschiffe line-up is the Japanese Pre-Dreadnought Protected Cruiser Akitsushima. She was French-inspired and had a very different profile from most Japanese ships. Here is a wiki link that has a good photo:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Akitsushima

If you happen to have a master of that one, you might want to suggest it to Panzerschiffe.


-- Jeff

[warchariot]

Thanks BB, you always have a good source or two.

[shigure]

Found a drawing of the Akitsushima.
i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac306/Shimakaze/1250%20Ships/Akitsushima1897.jpg

She had more HP and was had a little less beam than her near sisters, giving her a speed of 19 knots vs. 16.5 for the 12.6" gunned versions.

Shouldn't be too hard to make a master of her. However, it may take a while as I will be doing a lot of company travel till the end of the year. I will post pics of the master when completed and ready to send Panzerschiffes.