Lorraine was laid down in August 1912 at the Chantiers de Penhoët shipyard, launched in September 1913, and commissioned into the fleet in March 1916, after the outbreak of World War I.

During World War I, she was stationed at Corfu to prevent the Austro-Hungarian fleet from leaving the Adriatic Sea, but she saw no action.

After the outbreak of World War II, Lorraine carried a shipment of gold from the French treasury to Bermuda before returning to operate in the Mediterranean.

She provided gunfire support for the landings in Operation Dragoon in August–September 1944 and bombarded German positions around La Rochelle in April 1945.

[2] The secondary battery consisted of twenty-two Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1910 guns in casemates along the length of the hull.

She assisted in repatriating Austrian naval personnel, and escorted former Austro-Hungarian warships to France and Italy; this duty lasted until March.

[9] After the start of World War II, Lorraine served primarily in the western Mediterranean[9] as the flagship of Force X, under Vice Admiral Godfroy.

On 4 December, Lorraine operated out of Casablanca against German surface forces, along with the cruisers Algérie, La Galissonnière, and Marseillaise, and several destroyers and submarines.

[11] On 10 June, Italy declared war on France; by that time, both Bretagne and Provence had moved back to the western Mediterranean.

Lorraine was the only French capital ship in the eastern Mediterranean, though she was joined by four British battleships and an aircraft carrier.

[12] On the night of 20–21 June, Lorraine formed the center of an Anglo-French task force, with the cruisers HMS Neptune, Orion, and Achilles, for a bombardment of Italian positions at Bardia.

[14] In December 1942, the ship's crew decided to join the Allies in the Free French Naval Forces, and so Lorraine was placed back into service.

[5] The overhaul readied Lorraine to participate in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France in August 1944.

[9] She and the American battleship USS Nevada hammered German defenses in and around Toulon, including 340 mm coastal guns that had been removed from Provence.

Lorraine left the bombardment area on 17 September, but remained in the western Mediterranean until she was sent to Portsmouth for a brief refit toward the end of the year.

[9] In late March 1945, Lorraine left Cherbourg to participate in her final wartime operations, codenamed Vénérable and Vermeille.