Sergei Suliga French LK "Richelieu" and "Jean Bar. Bar Jean French military sailor and privateer, national hero of France. He was a hereditary sailor and fisherman. His ancestors, apparently, had Flemish roots, since Dunkirk was also located in those days.
(1650-1702)
Jean Bar(Jean Bart) - the most famous French corsair of the Louis XIV era, famous for numerous battles in the waters of Europe and North-West Africa. He was a Knight of the Order of St. Louis; considered a national hero in France.
He was born in Dunkirk on October 21, 1650 in the family of a fisherman, an experienced sailor and corsair Cornille Bar. Jean Bar's paternal grandfather, Luc Bar, was also a famous corsair (as was his maternal grandfather, the Flemish Michel Jacobszoon).
Jean Bar. 18th century engraving
From the age of 12, our hero began sailing on coasters in the North Sea and the English Channel - first as a cabin boy, then as a sailor, and in 1666 he became an assistant captain on the Cochon Gras brigantine. For a long time he served in the Dutch fleet under the command of the famous Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, but when France entered the war with Holland (1672), he returned to Dunkirk, became a corsair and began to hunt for enemy merchant ships.
From 1674 to 1678 Bar captured 74 ships. On the two-gun "Rua David" (with a team of 36 people), in the first half of 1674, he took 6 enemy ships, including a Dutch brigantine with coal, a 10-gun Dutch brig with wine and a Spanish 18-gun frigate; on the 10-gun brigantine "La Royale" in the second half of 1674 and in 1675, Jean Bar captured 26 ships, including the 8-gun Dutch ship "Greenland", the Dutch 12-gun frigate "Esperance", the 12-gun ship "Arms of Hamburg" ( a rich cargo of golden sand, ivory and sugar was found on it) and an 18-gun ship "Berger".
On the 18-gun frigate Palm, which had 150 crew members on board, he captured 33 ships in 1676 and 1677, including the 24-gun Dutch frigate Swanemburg, the beautiful 32-gun ship Neptune and the East Indian ship Pelican. ”, in the holds of which were spices, indigo and dyewood.
In 1676, Jean Bar came to the attention of Louis XIV and his all-powerful minister Colbert. On September 18 of the same year, Colbert wrote to the quartermaster of the Royal Navy at Dunkirk, Mr. Hubert: “His Majesty was very pleased with the news that a corsair ship from Dunkirk under the command of Captain Jean Bart captured a Dutch warship with thirty-two guns (meaning the Neptune. – V.G.). Recognizing the utmost importance to encourage these captains ... His Majesty has deigned to order that you hand over to Captain Jean Bar the enclosed gold chain as a reward for his brave deed that he has done.
In 1676, 1677 and 1678, Bar in 1676, 1677 and 1678 captured 7 rich prizes on the 30-gun Dauphine, which had a crew of almost 200 sailors, including a 32-gun Dutch frigate and 3 ships belonging to corsairs from Ostend; on the 32-gun "Mars" in 1678 he took 2 prizes - the brig "San Martin" with wine from Spain and the ship "San Antonio".
On January 8, 1679, Bar was promoted to lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy. When the war with Holland ended with the Treaty of Nimwegen (1679), Jean Bar was out of work for a while.
In June 1681, he again went to sea, this time with 2 small ships - the 14-gun Viper and the 12-gun Harlequin, having received the task of attacking pirates from the Moroccan port of Sale. Two years later, Bar went to the shores of the Iberian Peninsula - this time on the 36-gun "Serpan". He managed to capture the Spanish transport, which was going from Cadiz to the Balearic Islands. Later, he was transferred to serve as a lieutenant on the warship Modere, which patrolled the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Bar participated in the bombardment of Cadiz, the capture of Genoa and attacks on Spanish ships; in these battles he was wounded several times, after which he was forced to return to Dunkirk for treatment.
Meanwhile, a major military conflict was brewing between France and a coalition of European powers, united in 1686 in the Augsburg League (Spain, Holland, Sweden, etc.). Later the UK joined the coalition. In 1688, Jean Bar received an order to lead a squadron of frigates to operate on the Dutch and English sea lanes. He was given the 24-gun frigate La Rayez and the 16-gun Serpan. In April 1689, while cruising the English Channel, he discovered a Dutch merchant fleet escorted by the 50-gun warship Seahorse. Duty obliged the royal officer of Bara to fight the latter, and his "La Rayes" did not shy away from the fight. The battle against the Dutch was fierce and bloody. As a result, when both ships were badly damaged by artillery fire, and the Dutch captain fell dead on the bloody deck, his first officer surrendered the ship to Bar. "Serpan" meanwhile captured 10 merchant ships. Realizing that the mutilated "La Rayez" could sink, Bar moved with the surviving part of the team to the "Serpan". Soon he had to endure another battle - this time with an English ship. Once again, the French won.
In May 1689, Jean Bar, who commanded the 28-gun frigate Les Gets, and his companion Claude de Forbin, who commanded the frigate La Rayez, guarded a trade caravan of 30 ships on the Le Havre-Brest route. On May 22, on the beam of the Isle of Wight, they met 2 strong English frigates. At the council of war, Bar decided to attack the 48-gun frigate Nansach with Les Gets and La Raies, and throw three armed merchant ships on the second English frigate, on board of which there were 44 guns. When the battle began, the "merchants", catching the wind, suddenly left the battlefield, and the second English frigate, which had freed itself, hurried to the aid of the Nonsuch. The unequal battle lasted about three hours, and by the time of the surrender, the French ships had neither masts nor gunpowder. Bar was slightly wounded in the head, but Forban received seven wounds. The captured corsairs were taken by the British to Plymouth and placed in a small hotel, turned into a prison. After 12 days, having bribed the guards, the French made a daring escape. On a stolen boat, they crossed the English Channel in two days and safely reached the coast of France.
In 1690, commanding the 36-gun "Alsion", he destroyed the Dutch fishing fleet, captured two ships with Danish soldiers and 10 merchant ships from Hamburg. In 1691, taking advantage of a storm, Bar and Forben with several ships broke through the formation of the Anglo-Dutch squadron of Rear Admiral John Benbow, blockading Dunkirk, and a week later captured 4 English ships heading to Russia, to the port of Arkhangelsk. Then the corsairs burned the Dutch herring fleet (86 ships) and 6 whalers. In 1692, having appeared off the English coast, Bar landed troops at Newcastle, devastated the surroundings, burned Wardrington Castle and 200 houses, broke through the blockade at Dunkirk again and returned to his native harbor with prizes of 1 million 500 thousand livres. At the end of the same year, on the "Count", accompanied by the "Hercules" and "Tiger", he defeated the Dutch merchant fleet of 16 ships and captured a warship. The king honored Bar by receiving him in his palace at Versailles. In 1693, commanding the Gloria, he distinguished himself in the capture by the French fleet under the command of the Comte de Tourville of a caravan of merchant ships from Smyrna. Then Bar overtook 6 Dutch ships loaded with silk at the entrance to the roadstead of the Portuguese port of Faro, drove them aground and burned them. Then, accompanied by 5 ships, he returned to the English Channel and intercepted the Anglo-Dutch grain caravan.
The next victories were won by Bar in 1694. The king instructed him to bring a huge grain caravan (more than 100 ships) from Norway to starving France. Having deceived the vigilance of the blockading English squadron, Bar went out to the open sea. His flotilla consisted of 6 ships with 312 guns on board; the flagship was the Moor. Before reaching Norway, the corsairs discovered that the trade caravan with bread had already been intercepted by the Dutch squadron of 8 ships under the command of Rear Admiral Gidd de Vries. Not far from Texel, Bar decided to attack the enemy. Having exchanged gun salvos with the enemy, the Moor grappled with the flagship of the Dutch. In the midst of the boarding battle, Bar threw de Vries onto the deck with three saber blows, and half an hour later the Dutch flagship surrendered. 2 other ships were also captured; the five remaining fled. At the same time, Bar captured several English frigates and 30 merchant ships with provisions and ammunition. The prizes were delivered to Dunkirk, and 80 ships loaded with grain continued on their way to Calais, Dieppe and Le Havre. The court learned of this feat during the morning toilet ceremony of Louis XIV on Monday 5 July 1694. By order of the king, Jean Bar was granted a title of nobility, the Order of St. Louis and the right to have a golden lily in his coat of arms. On the commemorative medal minted in honor of the mentioned victory, there is an inscription: "France is provided with bread thanks to the cares of the king after the defeat of the Dutch squadron."
In August 1695, Jean Bart and the Comte de Reling put up a heroic resistance to the British, who bombarded Dunkirk. A medal was also issued to commemorate this event. In the summer of 1696, Chevalier Bar, at the head of a squadron of 7 frigates, 1 firewall and 3 corsair ships, again broke through the Anglo-Dutch blockade of Dunkirk and on June 18 met a Dutch merchant flotilla with bread, escorted by 5 warships, at Dogger Bank. As a result of the battle, he managed to capture 45 merchant ships worth 20 million livres (according to another version, 30 merchant ships and 3 warships were captured and burned).
At the beginning of September 1697, the Bar with 7 ships slipped out of Dunkirk, blocked by the enemy, in order to carry out an extremely important mission - to deliver Prince de Conti, a contender for the Polish crown, to Danzig (modern Gdansk). The voyage to Danzig turned out to be the last notable event in the maritime biography of Jean Bar. After the signing of the Peace of Ryswick (1697), the corsair orders were canceled, and Bar settled on the shore. In 1701, when the War of the Spanish Succession began, Bar led the Dunkirk squadron. In the early spring of 1702, while outfitting ships, he caught a cold and on April 20 (27) died of pneumonia.
One of the biographers of the great corsair wrote: “King Louis XIV, having learned about the death of Jean Bar, was struck by grief. The news soon spread throughout Europe, causing general grief in France. The enemies themselves paid tribute to his virtues ... All the inhabitants of Dunkirk watered his coffin with tears ... Premature death stole him from glory ... but glory avenged him, rewarding him with immortality.
Jean Bart was married twice and had thirteen children, of whom only six survived their father. The most famous among his sons was François-Cornille Bart, who became Vice-Admiral of the French Navy. A bronze monument to Jean Bar was erected in his native Dunkirk in 1845.
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October 21, 1651 - April 27, 1702
French navy and privateer, national hero of France. He was a hereditary sailor and fisherman. His ancestors, apparently, had Flemish roots, since Dunkirk at that time was also inhabited by representatives of this nationality.
Biography
Jean Bar was born to Cornelius Bar and Katerina Janssen. The ancestors of Jean Bar were hereditary sailors and fishermen, who at times combined their profession with the craft of a corsair. His ancestors, apparently, had Flemish roots, since Dunkirk at that time was also inhabited by representatives of this nationality.
The grandfather of the future privateer - Cornelius Bar commanded corsair ships and died from wounds received in battle. His great-uncle, privateer Jan Jacobsen, became famous for defending the departure of his comrades' ships at the cost of his life. Jean's father, who, like his grandfather, bore the name Cornelius, also died in battle as a corsair, leaving behind two young sons: Jean and Gaspard. The first, from the age of 12, continued the family tradition of sailing on coasters and fishing boats in the North Sea and the English Channel. From the very beginning of his career, Jean stood out among his peers with resourcefulness and determination, in connection with which he grew in positions: cabin boy, sailor, assistant captain. A capable young man managed to fight against England as part of the Dutch fleet, under the command of the famous Admiral de Ruyter during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. However, with the outbreak of the Dutch War (1672-78), Bar moved into French service.
Dutch war
With the outbreak of war, the young Jean Bart, at the age of 21, entered the service of a corsair ship, and in 1674 became the captain of the corsair galliot "Rua David". According to some reports, he was appointed to this position, according to others, he equipped the ship with his own savings. The ship was small. Its armament consisted of only 2 guns, and the team consisted of 36 people. And in the very first battle near the island of Texel, the corsair met a Dutch frigate with 18 guns and 60 people on board, which was boarded in a brutal hand-to-hand fight. The number of guns on board did not matter much to the corsair; he preferred to take his prizes on board.
Fame and success, as well as rich trophies, allowed the young corsair to join the community of armorers - shipowners of Dunkirk. The shipowners entrusted Bar with the ten-gun frigate Royal, appointing him captain. On it, in 1674-1675, Bar captured 26 ships, including the Dutch 12-gun frigate Esperance and the 18-gun ship Bergeres.
Bar's next ship was the 18-gun Palma, on which he captured 33 ships in 1676 and 1677, including the 24-gun Dutch frigate Svanemburg and the 36-gun ship Neptune. After the capture of the latter, the corsair came to the attention of the minister Jean Baptiste Colbert and personally Louis XIV. On September 18, 1676, Colbert wrote to the quartermaster of the Royal Navy at Dunkirk, Hubert:
After that, Jean Bar became popular in Dunkirk, there were legends about him, but the sailor continued his career: commanding the 14-gun Dauphin in 1676, 1677 and 1678, Bar captured seven prizes, including the 32-gun Dutch frigate Seeder and three ships belonging to the corsairs from Ostend; And commanding the ship "Mars" - 2 ships in 1678.
In total, before the conclusion of the Nimvegen peace in 1678, Bar, commanding small ships and knowing the area of combat operations well, according to various sources, captured from 74 to 81 prizes.
In the fight against pirates
On January 8, 1679, Bar was promoted to lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy. With the end of the war, Jean Bart was out of work for a while. During this time, he fought in the Mediterranean against North African pirates. In 1686, he made a bold raid on the Moroccan port city of Sale, the main refuge of the Moorish corsairs in Northwest Africa. From this raid he brought back 550 captives and the son of the local ruler. For this feat he was promoted to "frigate captain" in the Royal Navy.
In May 1936, two Saint-Nazaire shipyards at once began building the modern French battleship Jean Bar, somewhat similar to the one whose construction had already begun in Brest and later became known as the Richelieu. The use of modern advanced technologies made it possible to reduce construction by as much as 10 months, which, due to the difficult political situation, was most welcome. On December 12 of the same year, the official laying ceremony took place. battleship, the launch was planned to be carried out in December 1939, but it was postponed for another year, since suppliers, in the conditions of the outbreak of war, delayed the delivery of the equipment and materials necessary to complete the construction.
In order to speed up the process, the government had to increase the number of workers employed in construction to 3,000 people who worked more than 12-15 hours a day. Thanks to these timely measures taken, the ship surfaced in the shipbuilding dock already in early March 1940, that is, much earlier than planned.
Battleship "Jean Bar"
After the Wehrmacht invaded France at the end of spring "Jean Bar" became the object of massive air raids by German aircraft, due to which construction work was frozen for some time, and most of the workers were dismissed. Officially, the battleship was supposed to be included in the fleet no earlier than October 1940, but by the beginning of the summer there were practically no weapons on it, there were no engines and propellers, it was just an ordinary skeleton that needed careful work.
Realizing how risky it is to have a battleship of this class, albeit not equipped, in a city that is about to be occupied by the enemy, the government ordered the workers to be gathered and the ship equipped with all the necessary equipment on a temporary basis. Work on equipping the ship should have been completed no later than June 20, since it was by this time, according to the calculations of the military, that the Germans should have approached the outskirts of the city.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that the width of the ship was over 35 meters, which was much less than the width of the canal leading from the Loire towards the sea. The channel had to be urgently deepened and expanded to at least 56 meters. Large-scale excavation work over a distance of more than 200 meters had to be done, so they began immediately on May 25, without waiting for official confirmation from the government, which by that time had no real control over anything.
Thousands of workers were involved in the construction work, their working day was maximized and brought to 18 hours with short breaks for lunch, breakfast and dinner.
French battleship Jean Bar In the first days of June, shafts and propellers were installed on the battleship, which arrived from Brest, where the construction of the Richelieu had already been completed by that time. At the same time, tests were carried out on three steam boilers, balancing the rudder, propeller and shaft. 80 and 90 mm anti-aircraft guns were installed as weapons on the battleship, since the installation of guns of a more powerful caliber was delayed due to the elementary lack of them. It should be noted that most of the still installed large-caliber guns did not have fuses and devices for firing a shot, which was kept a great secret, for fear that this information would reach German spies and the attack would follow immediately.
On June 16, steam was made in the steam boilers for the first time, and after 2 days the workers fastened the screws to the shafts, installed a compass, telegraph and temporary telephone, did not install signal lights, limited themselves to providing the command staff with a sufficient number of signal flags. At noon on June 18, news was received that the German troops were only 65 kilometers from the city, it was time to leave, but the ship’s system was still not fully debugged, malfunctions appeared every now and then, breakdowns occurred and even small fires, with which the team did very well. In addition, the matter was greatly complicated by the fact that, due to the constant bombardment, the workers did not have time to deepen the channel to the required depth, all hopes were pinned on a good tide, which was supposed to catch the ship, removing it practically from the shallows.
Problems also arose with determining the location of the future deployment of the battleship, at first they planned to send it to Morocco, but the British intervened and offered to help with the delivery of the ship to the shores of England, where it could be completed. The French government did not fully agree with the plans of the English government, therefore, when the final decision was made on the time to leave the port of construction, the battleship headed for Casablanca.
The exit of the battleship, as expected, was carried out on the 20th, despite the fact that this event was kept in the strictest confidence, German intelligence still found out about it and aircraft were sent to intercept and destroy the ship, which managed to cause significant damage to the battleship that was barely afloat. before they could be driven off by French aircraft.
The battleship arrived in Casablanca on the 23rd, and almost immediately the dismantling of excess equipment and weapons began on it, the guns were removed from the ship, strengthening the coastal battery with them, and instead of them, lighter guns were mounted, designed mainly to create a barrier from the air, due to which "Jean Bar" practically lost the status of a battleship and turned into just a floating battery. The French battleship stood in this status in the port of Casablanca until the beginning of 1943, that is, until the port was conquered by the British and Americans.
Converted battleship "Jean Bar" The French hoped to send the battleship along with another battleship, the Richelieu, to America for repair and refitting, two plans were developed at once, but both of them remained unrealized. By the end of the war, the French had to admit that the battleship was a ship that was very outdated and in need of serious repairs, so it was nevertheless decided to leave it in France, where it underwent some repairs and even managed to take part in the post-war French landing in Indochina.
After the conversion, the Jean Bar had a length of 247 and a width of 35.5 meters, with a displacement of over 48 thousand tons and a speed of over 32 knots per hour.
The battleship was decommissioned for scrap only in June 1970, attempts to turn it into a floating museum of the Second World War were unsuccessful, since there were no people willing to finance this project.
Biography
Jean Bar was born to Cornelius Bar and Katerina Janssen. The ancestors of Jean Bar were hereditary sailors and fishermen, who at times combined their profession with the craft of a corsair. His ancestors, apparently, had Flemish roots, since Dunkirk at that time was also inhabited by representatives of this nationality.
The grandfather of the future privateer - Cornelius Bar commanded corsair ships and died from wounds received in battle. His great-uncle, privateer Jan Jacobsen, became famous for defending the departure of his comrades' ships at the cost of his life. Jean's father, who, like his grandfather, bore the name Cornelius, also died in battle as a corsair, leaving behind two young sons: Jean and Gaspard. The first, from the age of 12, continued the family tradition of sailing on coasters and fishing boats in the North Sea and the English Channel. From the very beginning of his career, Jean stood out among his peers with resourcefulness and determination, in connection with which he grew in positions: cabin boy, sailor, assistant captain. A capable young man managed to fight against England as part of the Dutch fleet, under the command of the famous Admiral de Ruyter during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. However, with the outbreak of the Dutch War (1672-78), Bar moved into French service.
Dutch war
With the outbreak of war, the young Jean Bart, at the age of 21, entered the service of a corsair ship, and in 1674 became the captain of the corsair galliot "Rua David". According to some reports, he was appointed to this position, according to others, he equipped the ship with his own savings. The ship was small. Its armament consisted of only 2 guns, and the team consisted of 36 people. And in the very first battle near the island of Texel, the corsair met a Dutch frigate with 18 guns and 60 people on board, which was boarded in a brutal hand-to-hand fight. The number of guns on board did not matter much to the corsair; he preferred to take his prizes on board.
Fame and success, as well as rich trophies, allowed the young corsair to join the community of armorers - shipowners of Dunkirk. The shipowners entrusted Bar with the ten-gun frigate Royal, appointing him captain. On it, in 1674-1675, Bar captured 26 ships, including the Dutch 12-gun frigate Esperance and the 18-gun ship Bergeres.
Bar's next ship was the 18-gun Palma, on which he captured 33 ships in 1676 and 1677, including the 24-gun Dutch frigate Svanemburg and the 36-gun ship Neptune. After the capture of the latter, the corsair came to the attention of the minister Jean Baptiste Colbert and personally Louis XIV. On September 18, 1676, Colbert wrote to the quartermaster of the Royal Navy at Dunkirk, Hubert:
“His Majesty was very pleased to hear that a privateer from Dunkirk, under the command of Jean Bart, had captured a Dutch 32-gun ship. Recognizing the utmost importance to encourage these captains to continue the war they are waging against the Dutch, you, Monsieur Hubert, will find enclosed with the letter a gold chain, which His Majesty wished to present to Captain Jean Bar as a reward for his feat. His Majesty could greatly benefit from the said Dunkirk captains, if they made up squadrons from their ships ... and therefore we order ... to carefully find out whether they will agree to obey their chosen flagship ... in case His Majesty provides them with ships for corsairs ... His Majesty especially forbids You ... Mr. Hubert, report everything said here to anyone, so that the will of His Majesty does not reach prematurely.
After that, Jean Bar became popular in Dunkirk, there were legends about him, but the sailor continued his career: commanding the 14-gun Dauphin in 1676, 1677 and 1678, Bar captured seven prizes, including the 32-gun Dutch frigate Seeder and three ships belonging to the corsairs from Ostend; And commanding the ship "Mars" - 2 ships in 1678.
In total, before the conclusion of the Nimvegen peace in 1678, Bar, commanding small ships and knowing the area of combat operations well, according to various sources, captured from 74 to 81 prizes.