High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Richelieu was a battleship of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She served during World War II, on the Vichy Regime side, notably fending off an Allied attempt on Dakar, and later with Allied forces in the Indian Ocean in 1944 and 1945. She took part in the return of French forces to Indochina in 1945, and served into the 1960s.