A dredger hoist brought the shell and two half charge bags to the breech. The rammer drove the shell into the breech with the powder being loaded by hand. The breech would close and the gun would be fired. The guns could maintain a rate of fire of four to five rounds per minute. The medium anti-aircraft armament was augmented with four 37 mm/50 (1.46 inch) model 1925 guns in Model 1925 single mounts. With an elevation only to plus 85 degrees they had a slow rate of fire, 15 to 21 rounds per minute therefore were not effective against modern aircraft when installed. To complete the light AA armament sixteen 13.2 mm (0.5 inch) Model 1929 machine guns were installed in Model 1931 quad mounts. Two would be mounted forward on the lower bridge wings and the second pair aft. For torpedoes two launchers Model 1929T for 550 mm torpedoes were fitted to port and starboard When in the locked position the starboard launcher faced forward and the port launcher faced aft. The tubes could be trained and fired either locally or from the armoured conning tower. The ships initially carried the 55 cm (21.65 inch) 23DT, Toulon torpedo. Nine torpedoes were carried, six in the tubes with three spares. Her catapult was of the compressed air type. The catapult was 22.3 meters long with the launching system using 21 meters of the length. She operated two GL 811/812 mono floatplanes. The GL series was replaced with the Loire-Nieuport 130 floatplane by 1939. Her catapult was mounted to port and not on the centreline. Service history Pre war service War service Algérie started World War II as flagship of the 1st Cruiser Squadron which also included the cruisers , , , , and destroyers from the 5th, 7th and 9th contre-torpilleur divisions. Algérie, Dupleix, the battleship and the British aircraft carrier were based in Dakar in French West Africa, while searching for the German heavy cruiser . In March 1940, after refitting at Toulon, she accompanied the battleship to Canada, with 3,000 cases of French gold. In April, Algérie returned to the Mediterranean and when Italy declared war on France, she helped shell Genoa in June. Her last mission before the French surrender was as a convoy escort. After the French defeat in 1940, Algérie remained with the Vichy fleet based at Toulon. Her only mission for the Vichy