# THE FIGHTING FRENCH FLEET BATTLESHIP PROVENCE 1938 DOCUMENTARY PART 1 48944

Made in the late 1930s by producers Marcel De Hubsch and Etienne Lallier, "Branlebas de Combat" or literally "Call to Action" presents a look at the fighting French Navy just before it was torn to pieces in World War II. Featuring a score by acclaimed composer Jacques Ibert, the movie contains images of the fleet including especially the battleship Provence, which incredibly was sunk twice in WWII -- once by the British and once by the French. Provence was a battleship of the French Navy built in the 1910s, named in honor of the French region of Provence. She was a member of the Bretagne class, alongside her two sister ships, Bretagne and Lorraine. Provence was laid down in May 1912 at the Arsenal de Lorient, launched in April 1913, and commissioned into the fleet in March 1916, after the outbreak of World War I. She was armed with a main battery of ten 340 mm (13.4 in) guns and had a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). Provence spent the bulk of her career in the French Mediterranean Squadron, where she served as the fleet flagship. During World War I, she was stationed at Corfu to prevent the Austro-Hungarian fleet from leaving the Adriatic Sea, but she saw no action. She was modernized significantly in the 1920s and 1930s, and conducted normal peace-time cruises and training maneuvers in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. She participated in non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War. In the early days of World War II, Provence conducted patrols and…

- Kind: Documentary
- Genres: Documentary, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/48944FrenchFleetPt1)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/48944FrenchFleetPt1?play=1)