Until the end of 1942, "Richelieu" was under Vichy control. It was only after "Torch" that she came under Free French control, but even then she was of no immediate use. In 1940, when Germany invaded France, "Richelieu" was still being fitted out by her builders and sailed for Africa with some equipment still missing (though she had run several sea trials), so when taken over by the Free French she needed considerable dockyard effort before being considered fit for operations. To name but one modification........ there was no supply of the French 380 mm shells her main guns needed, so all eight guns had to be rebored to 381 mm (15") to enable them to use British 15" shells. Because she was a "one-off" a LOT of parts had to be custom-made. She had also suffered serious damage while at Dakar, two of her main guns were useless and had to be replaced by two guns from "Jean Bart" (no doubt other items were also supplied by "Jean Bart"). Add to a lengthy dockyard period the time necessary for trials and working-up and it is easy to see why she wasn't available for operations before late 1943.
"Richelieu" joined the Eastern Fleet in March 1944, then departed for European waters in September, rejoining the Eastern Fleet in March 1945, departing for Durban in July. All in all, her involvement in the war against Japan was minor.
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