Aigle-class destroyer explained

The Aigle-class destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) were built for the French navy during the 1920s. They were very similar to the previous Guepard class, the only difference being improved machinery with higher pressure boilers, offering an additional of speed and a new model 138 mm gun with a sliding breech block giving a higher rate of fire. The ships were named after birds.

Ships

• Aigle (Eagle; pennant numbers 5, 6 and X13)

Built by Ateliers et Chantiers de France, Dunkirk

Launched 19 February 1931

Completed 10 October 1932

Scuttled 27 November 1942

Refloated 10 July 1943.

Bombed and sunk 24 November 1943

Broken up in situ 1952.

• Vautour (Vulture; pennant numbers 6, 5, 73, X71)

Built by Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, La Seyne

Launched 26 August 1930

Completed 2 May 1932

Scuttled 27 November 1942

Refloated 17 January 1943

Bombed and sunk 4 February 1944

Broken up in situ 1951

• Albatros (3, 2, 5, 72, X73, X77, F762, D614)

built by Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Nantes

Launched 27 June 1930

Completed 25 December 1931

Decommissioned 9 September 1959

• Gerfaut (Gyrfalcon - 4, 71, X72)

Built by Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne, Nantes

Launched 14 June 1930

Completed 30 January 1932

Scuttled 27 November 1942

Refloated 1 June 1943.

Partly scrapped June–September 1943

Hulk bombed and sunk 7 March 1944

Broken up in situ 1948

• Milan (Kite - 1, 4, X113, X111)

Built by Arsenal de Lorient

Launched 13 October 1931

Completed 20 April 1934 -

On 8 November 1942, off Casablanca, she was hit by 16-2NaN-2 shells from the US fleet and had to be beached.

• Épervier (Sparrowhawk - 2, 5, X112)

Built by Arsenal de Lorient,

Launched 14 August 1931

Completed 1 April 1934 -

On 9 November 1942 she was sunk by off Oran. She was raised, and eventually broken up in 1946.

Service history

Three of the ships (Albatros, Épervier and Milan) were stationed in Morocco as part of the Vichy French navy, and engaged Allied forces in the battle of Casablanca during Operation Torch. Along with the unfinished battleship, they engaged the Allied 'Covering Group', a taskforce based on the battleship . Milan and Épervier both ran aground after being damaged in the battle; Albatros was damaged but, after her capture, was repaired after the war and used as a gunnery training vessel. Aigle was scuttled at Toulon, France, on 27 November 1942. She was later refloated and sunk a second time by United States Army Air Forces bombers on 24 November 1943. Later she was salvaged and scrapped. Vautour and Gerfaut were also scuttled at Toulon, but Vautour was raised again and sunk during an air raid on 4 February 1944.

References

• Book: Jordan, John. Conway. London. 2013. Warship 2013. 978-1-84486-205-4. Toulon: The Self-Destruction and Salvage of the French Fleet. Cernuschi. Enrico. O'Hara. Vincent P.. amp. 134–148.
• Book: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Chesneau. Roger. Conway Maritime Press. Greenwich, UK. 1980. 0-85177-146-7.
• Book: Jordan. John. Moulin. Jean. French Destroyers: Torpilleurs d'Escadre & Contre-Torpilleurs 1922–1956. 2015. Seaforth Publishing. Barnsley, UK. 978-1-84832-198-4 . amp.
• Book: Rohwer, Jürgen. Jürgen Rohwer

. Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, Maryland. 2005. Third Revised. 1-59114-119-2. Jürgen Rohwer.

• Book: Whitley, M. J.. Michael J. Whitley

. Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Naval Institute Press. 1988. 0-87021-326-1. Annapolis, Maryland. Michael J. Whitley.

External links

• Aigle-class at uboat.net