The main diesel generators were housed in their own compartment between the magazines for the main battery turrets, and they were only used while in port. They could be overloaded to for up to five minutes. The ships were armed with eight 380 mm/45 Modèle (Mle) 1935 guns arranged in two quadruple gun turrets, which were placed in a superfiring pair forward of the superstructure. The guns were supplied with a total of 832 armor-piercing shells, which weighed and had a muzzle velocity of . Saint Chamond designed the turrets using the "Dunkerque" turret, which the company had also developed. The turrets were divided into two separate gun houses by a bulkhead to reduce the risk of the entire turret being disabled by a single hit. The turrets allowed elevation to 35 degrees, which provided a maximum range of ; the guns could depress to -5 degrees. Loading could be accomplished at any angle, and owing to the heavy propellant charges, the rate of fire was relatively slow, at 1.3 shot per minute. Their secondary armament was to have consisted of fifteen /55 Mle 1930 guns mounted in five Mle 1936 triple turrets, three of which were arranged on the rear superstructure with the other two amidships (though neither "Richelieu" or "Jean Bart" were ever fitted with the amidships turrets). The turrets were modifications of the low-angle Mle 1930 turrets used in the of light cruisers, with improved elevation to 90 degrees to allow them to engage aerial targets. The turrets suffered from serious problems that limited their effectiveness, including slow elevation and training speeds and a tendency to jam when elevated at angles greater than 45 degrees. As a result, they could only be used for long-range barrage fire against low-flying torpedo bombers. When used against surface targets, the guns had a range of . They were supplied with a total of 3,600 semi-AP and high explosive rounds, the former for surface targets and the latter for use against aircraft. As designed, the light anti-aircraft battery was to have consisted of automatic guns in twin Mle 1935 mounts, but these were not ready by 1939, and so the two amidships 152 mm turrets were replaced with a group of twelve /45 Mle 1930 anti-aircraft guns in twin turrets. These were dual-purpose guns, but were outfitted primarily with time-fused shells for anti-aircraft defense, as the 152 mm guns were expected to fulfill the close-range anti-ship role.