Saint Louis

History: The French Navy (Marine Nationale) created a series of heavy cruiser designs in 1939 to follow the Algérie but free of the limitations imposed on warship construction by the London Naval Treaty and Washington Naval Treaty. This series was designated C5. At the outbreak of Second World War, all ships under construction that could not be finished in the short term were suspended, and their designs reviewed. The C5 design was modified and updated, and tentatively to be named the Saint-Louis. All further design work on the Saint-Louis-class ended with the fall of France in 1940.

Type: Cruiser

SubType: Heavy Cruiser

Primary Country: France is one of Europe’s largest countries. It is bordered by six countries other nations: Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the southeast and Spain to the southwest. The United Kingdom borders France via the English Channel. The country is considered to be the gateway to Europe as there are several large international airports (two of these can be found in Paris), ferry terminals and the French rail service.

In 486, Frankish tribes unified under Merovingian kingship. In 843, Western Francia was established from the division of the Carolingian Empire. In 1789, the French monarchy was overthrown, and in 1792, the First French Republic was founded. In 1958, the Fifth French Republic was established.