Charlemagne, French Pre-Dreadnought BB, 1:250, Scratchbuild

[Gil]

I've actually been on this base back in the 1960s. Very nice part of France and the food was excellent.

Dug up this history at Wikipedia, "Military Port of Toulon":

The word rade comes from the old English term 'Road,' "a protected place near shore, not so enclosed as a harbour, where ships can ride at anchor.".[1] The Rade of Toulon is one of the best natural anchorages on the Mediterranean, and the largest rade in Europe. It is protected from the sea by the peninsula of Giens and the peninsula of Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer,and has been used as a military harbour since the 15th century. The Rade shelters the port of Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer, the port of La Seyne-sur-Mer, as well as the arsenal, or military port of Toulon, and the commercial port.


The 'modern' history of the port begins when Louis XII built his Tour Royale 1514. A naval arsenal and shipyard was built in 1599, and small sheltered harbour, the Veille Darse, was built in 1604-1610 to protect ships from the wind and sea. The shipyard was greatly enlarged by Cardinal Richelieu, who wished to make France into a Mediterranean naval power. In 1680, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the Minister of the Navy and Controller of Finance of King Louis XIV, began building a much larger port, called the Darse Vauban or the Darse Neuve, and shipyard, designed by his commissioner of fortifications,Vauban.[2]


In 1697, Vauban built the impressive corderie, a building designed to make ropes. The corderie, still standing, is 20 meters wide and 320 meters long, built so that ropes could be stretched the entire length of the building as they were twisted together. Power for the ropemaking was provided by convicts from the adjoining prison, who walked in an enormous treadmill. A triumphal gate (now the Museum of the Navy) was added to the Arsenal in 1738.


The Arsenal port was enlarged still further in the 19th century and the 20th century. The construction of the arsenal du Mourillon began at the start of the 18th century, as an extension of the major Toulon arsenal on the roadstead's east coast. Until the 20th century this extension held stores for the wood to built the French Navy. From the late 19th century it was this shipyard that built France's first ironclad frigates then the world's first modern submarines.


Scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon in 1942

Rather than joining the Free French forces in North Africa and to avoid capture by the Germans, the French fleet based at Toulon scuttled itself on 27 November 1942 on the orders of the French admiralty[3]. During the 20th century the Mourillon arsenal was mainly dedicated to submarine activity as a French submarine base until 1940, then a German one from 1940 to 1945, then a dockyard and torpedo factory after 1945. The Arsenal was badly damaged by Allied bombing in World War II, but since has been reconstructed and modernised. It has eleven drydocks for ship repair, the two largest of which are 422 meters by 40 meters. The Arsenal is still the principle military port of France, the home port of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91), France's attack submarine squadron, and the other ships of the French Mediterranean fleet.


The Arsenal is not open to the public, but the Naval Museum at its entrance has a remarkable collection of enormous ship models from the 18th century, used to train the heir to the throne in seamanship, as well as other naval memorabilia. The building of the Corderie can be seen beside the road nearby. Boat tours depart regularly from the waterfront, and allow visitors to have a good look at ships of the French fleet.[4]

+Gil

[Renaud]

I was sceptical too about the location of Villefranche I have been confused with. Moreover, I have some old views of the other Villefranche full of old battlehips, and others I took myself on holidays some 15 years ago... How could I mistake ? Arghhhh.....

[Golden Bear]

I have numerous photos - the majority supplied by Renaud - which are clearly the port at Nice. In his articles about the wonderful ships of this period Luc Féron uses "Toulon" and "Villefranche" as separate destinations for the dispersal of the ships over time.

In the photos you can recognize the hills, shown in the nice color photo above, as well as many of the shore details.

Ack. I have a couple of perfect photos to show the resemblance but cannot find them in my mess of different drives. Here is one of Suffren which is handy for showing the big hill and some background stuff as well as the description of Villefranche at the top with a photographer's name from Nice in the lower right.


Carl

[boosed]

That's a wonderful photo, Carl, with the Tricolour waving at the stern and the hills rising in the background.

Don

[stone]

Look what I found ! If that isn't killing two birds with one stone ! Just occurred to me I should have posted this in the HMS "Collossus thread, sorry.
Watercolour is by Carl(would you believe it!) Schnars-Alquist, 1855-1939
From l.to r.: HMS "Nile", HMS "Sans Pareil" and HMS "Collossus" at anchor near Valetta.
Serge

[Golden Bear]

Another nice painting!

...and here is a better view of the port at Nice:

[Ashrunner]

Nice didn't look like that the last time I was there 8v)

Great look at the area and era though.

[stone]

This any good ?