The French battleship Jean Bart was a prominent unit of the Courbet-class, the first dreadnoughts built for the French Navy, and represented a significant step in naval technology during the early 20th century. Laid down on 15 November 1910 at the Arsenal de Brest and launched on 22 September 1911, she was completed by 2 September 1913 at a cost of approximately 60.2 million French francs. Measuring 166 meters (544 ft 7 in) in length overall with a beam of 27 meters (88 ft 7 in), Jean Bart displaced around 23,475 tonnes at normal load, with a deep load displacement of about 25,579 tonnes. Her propulsion system consisted of two Parsons steam turbine sets powered by 24 Belleville coal boilers, designed to produce 28,000 metric horsepower, granting her a top speed of 21 knots. Armament-wise, Jean Bart was equipped with a formidable main battery of twelve 305 mm guns in six twin turrets, complemented by secondary armament of twenty-two 138 mm guns, and light anti-aircraft weapons added during her service. Her armor protection included a waterline belt up to 250 mm thick, with main turrets protected by up to 360 mm of armor, and a 40 mm thick armored deck. During her service in World War I, Jean Bart operated primarily in the Mediterranean, participating in the sinking of the Austro-Hungarian cruiser Zenta and serving as a flagship during the blockade of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. She was torpedoed by an Austro-Hungarian submarine in December 1914, sustaining damage that required repairs at Malta. After the war, she participated in the occupation of Constantinople and was sent to the Black Sea in 1919, where her crew mutinied briefly amid political unrest. In the interwar period, Jean Bart underwent two partial modernizations, notably in the early 1920s and again in 1929–1931, which upgraded her fire-control systems, replaced boilers with oil-fired ones, and improved her range and combat capabilities. She served as a flagship and training ship before being disarmed and hulked in 1935. During World War II, the Germans captured her intact in 1942, using her for testing shaped-charge warheads. She was ultimately sunk by Allied bombing in 1944, raised, and scrapped beginning in late 1945. Jean Bart remains a significant example of early 20th-century French dreadnought design and naval history.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.