"Jean Bart" Anchor Memorial

This memorial consists of an anchor of the former French battleship "Jean Bart", launched in 1940 and finally demolished in 1970.

March 6 1940, French battleship Jean Bart was launched at Chantiers de Penhoët shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Jean Bart was the second ship of the Richelieu-class battleship.
Jean Bart was not yet completed when she was moved to Casablanca in 1940 due to German invasion, she only had 1 operational turret, contained 4 380mm guns with 2 separate loading system, a separate cargo ship carried her second, still incomplete turret alongside her.
Jean Bart was hit by several aerial bombs and shells from battleship USS Massachusetts during American campaign of North Africa, dubbed Operation Torch in 1942. Jean Bart was then sunk in the shallow water. She sat on Casablanca for the remainder of the war.
After the war, Jean Bart returned to France in 1945. French public opinion called for the Jean Bart to be completed, which was done in 1949. In 1956, she participated in the Suez Canal Crisis off Egypt in 1956 but saw no combat. She was put into reserve in 1957, followed by decommissioning in 1961. She was sold in 1969 and scrapped in the following year.

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Source

• Text: Kaj Metz
• Photos: Koos Winkelman