Saint-Nazaire (French: [sɛ̃ nazɛːʁ] ⓘ; Breton: Sant-Nazer/Señ Neñseir; Gallo: Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France,[4] in traditional Brittany.

The Chantiers de l'Atlantique, one of the largest shipyards in the world, constructed notable ocean liners such as SS Normandie, SS France, RMS Queen Mary 2 and the cruise ship MS Symphony of the Seas, the largest passenger ship in the world until 2022.

Saint-Nazaire was a small village until the Industrial Revolution but became a large town in the second half of the 19th century, thanks to the construction of railways and the growth of the seaport.

As a major submarine base for the Kriegsmarine, Saint-Nazaire was subject to a successful British raid in 1942 and was heavily bombed by the Allies until 1945.

[citation needed] Archeology suggests that the area has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic period, as evidenced by the presence of monuments like the tumulus of Dissignac, the dolmen located in the centre of the present-day city, and ancient bronzes found in the vicinity.

According to the 15th-century chronicler Alain Bouchart, Brutus of Troy, the mythical ancestor of the Bretons, travelled to Saint-Nazaire to set foot upon the new homeland of his people.

[citation needed] Historical accounts note that at the end of the Roman Empire, some Britons colonized the Loire estuary and later the peninsula containing Guérande.

According to the late-6th-century writer Gregory of Tours, the Roman Church sheltered the remains of the martyr Nazarius in a local basilica.

Battles occurred, such as in 1380 when Jehan d'Ust defended the city in the name of John V, Duke of Brittany (known in France as Jean IV) against the Castilian fleet during the Hundred Years' War.

The population of 3,216 in 1800 shows its battered history, with a mainly local (Brière), of Lower Brittany (of Morbihan in the Finistère-south), and minor representation from most other areas of France.

From this point forward the population of Saint-Nazaire experienced exponential growth, which was reflected in its nickname of "Little Breton California", or "Liverpool of the West".

He organized the National Defense at Saint-Nazaire, and marched out with his contingent, though they saw no active service due to lack of ammunition (their private store having been commandeered by the state).

During World War I, the city became an important debarkment port of Allied troops, particularly in the latter stages for the United States Army.

In 1932, the Saint-Nazaire casino went bankrupt and was resold to the town of Nantes: the site was redeveloped in 1935 as the first home of the current Saint-Louis school.

As part of Operation Aerial, Saint-Nazaire, like Dunkirk, became an evacuation point to England for the British, with those embarking including the writer John Renshaw Starr.

On 17 June 1940 an estimated 9,000 British Army soldiers were embarked aboard the Clyde-built cruise liner, later converted to troopship, RMS Lancastria, which was attacked and sunk by German Junkers Ju 88 bombers, mainly from Kampfgeschwader 30, taking with her around 4,000 victims.

The ball turret gunner of an American B-17F bomber fell 20,000 ft (6,100 m) onto the glass roof of the train station, even though his parachute had been destroyed by German flak while still in his plane.

A heavily fortified U-boat Saint-Nazaire submarine base was built by Organisation Todt shortly after occupation, with a 9 m-thick (30 ft) concrete ceiling capable of withstanding almost any bomb in use at the time.

The huge Joubert drydock built for SS Normandie was the only port on the Atlantic capable of servicing the German battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz.

On 28 March 1942, a force of 611 British Commandos and the Royal Navy launched the St Nazaire Raid against the shipyards of Saint-Nazaire, codenamed Operation Chariot.

On 3 January 1943 Colonel Curtis LeMay led 85 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 1st Bombardment Wing against the U-boat pens at Saint-Nazaire, on the Eighth Air Force's sixth raid against the facility.

For three days in 1943, British Royal Air Force and American aircraft dropped scores of leaflets warning the population of a planned fire-bombing raid.

Casualties were light as most of the civilians had heeded the warning and fled to the safety of the countryside but after that point, except for the self-contained U-boat base, Saint-Nazaire remained abandoned until the end of the war.

Since the Germans could no longer conduct major submarine operations from the bases without a supply line, the SHAEF commander, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to simply bypass these ports, and the Allied armies focused their resources on the invasion of Germany.

After the construction of SS France in 1961, the last Compagnie Générale Transatlantique liner and the subsequent closure of the Suez Canal, Chantiers de l'Atlantique began building large oil tankers, including Batillus, Bellamya, Pierre Guillaumat and Prairial.

It is near the marshes of Brière, an important regional natural park with many animal and plant species, the second largest wetland in France after the Camargue.

According to INSEE, Saint-Nazaire is the commune-center of an urban unit (commonly: agglomeration) which counted 186,760 inhabitants in 2018,[3] gathering 17 communes of the Loire estuary.

Snowfall is rare, but rain is frequent (116 days a year with precipitation) but not very intense, the annual rainfall being 789 mm.

Saint-Nazaire railway station is served by both the TGV and regional trains and buses of the TER Pays de la Loire.

Saint-Nazaire suffered heavily from the downsizing of shipbuilding activity in western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, after the completion of the national passenger liner, SS France.