"Jean Bart" had only recently been launched by the beginning of the Battle of France in May 1940, so the shipyard focused as much effort on getting the ship ready for sea as possible. The workers focused on installing the turbines and boilers to allow her to get underway. With German forces approaching Saint-Nazaire, "Jean Bart" was rushed through a hastily-dredged channel to escape via the Atlantic Ocean south to Casablanca. By that time, she had only one of her main turrets installed, along with a handful of anti-aircraft guns, some of which had been scrounged from another vessel in the harbor. Shell handling equipment and ammunition hoists were not completed for the main battery, and the only usable guns were three 37 mm and six of the 13.2 mm mounts. After being attacked and hit once (but not seriously damaged) by German Heinkel 111 bombers while en route, the ship reached Casablanca with an escort of two destroyers on 22 June.