I find the transitional period of naval architecture from 1945-1975 to be fascinating, and as De Grasse and Colbert are perfect examples of this, I bought this book hoping to get some information on them, as 1956 covers their completion (De Grasse) and launching (Colbert), so that whole 1956 cut-off point is fraught with peril. I have no access to the French press, and if there is a French equivalent to "The Two Normans" (Friedman and Polmar), it may be John Jordan. (From a distance, it appears that the French are not terribly interested in their naval history. Colbert was a museum ship from 1993-2006, but then they decided, "Naah, we don't feel like it," and she is awaiting scrapping.)
The answer for De Grasse and Colbert is, "something, but not a lot." Jordan comes right out and says of Colbert, "A design history of this ship would be out of place in this book," despite the fact that her 1956 launching does fit into the title's 1922-1956. Oh well.
There are two great two-view (starboard and top) drawings of De Grasse and Colbert (one each) as completed as well as technical tables. De Grasse gets an entire chapter devoted to the design to which she was never completed, and four pages on the anti-aircraft configuration to which she was completed, and Colbert gets about three pages, but no design discussion. These seven pages include photos of both in their original completed configurations, a photo of De Grasse after her 1960 refit when she landed four of her 57mm mounts, a photo of De Grasse after her nuclear test command ship modification, and Colbert in her Masurca configuration awaiting scrapping at Brest (also available in color on the Internet). There are, however, no line drawings of either ship after 1959. For $50 this may not be enough if those are the two ships you are mostly interested in. ALSO NOTE: there is nothing about training/helicopter cruiser Jeanne d'Arc, laid down in 1959, clearly outside this book's mandate.
The title might better read, "1922-1945," as the information and detail for this era is staggering, and the 1945-56 section reads more like a light cooling-down period. Through 1945 the line drawings, hull sections, and development plans are all that you could hope for. There is exquisite detail on all of the ships' WW2 rebuildings in the US, including many line drawings and good photographs of these modifications. Also every few pages there are one- or two-page tables of the fleet assignments, listings of all of the operations and patrols the ships took part in, and good maps of all of the actions in which they were engaged. There is also coverage of their postwar careers and assignments up to their scrapping, and good photos of them serving as school ships, heading to the breakers, etc. This stuff is outstanding and priceless, and the book deserves six stars on this basis.
However, I'm only giving it four stars, because I entitled this review, "De Grasse and Colbert." (You may call this unfair, like rating a phonebook poorly because it doesn't include photographs, but I'm trying to be clear about my curmudgeonly ways.) Since there were just the two after 1956, it would have been nice if Jordan had followed them farther and allowed a more complete view of French cruisers after 1922, but then he would have had to grapple with Jeanne d'Arc, and I understand that he had to cut this off somewhere. Some day I hope to find a good account of these two ships from 1956-1973 (DG) and 1959-1991 (Colbert). Heck, if you write that, throw in Jeanne d'Arc while you're at it.
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