Bourrasque-class destroyer explained

The Bourrasque class[1] was a group of twelve French Navy destroyers (torpilleur) laid down in 1923 and in service from 1926 to 1950. Along with the heavier, they were part of a plan to modernise the French fleet after the First World War. The Bourrasques were smaller and slower than the Chacals, but were nonetheless comparable with the British W class. The class saw varied service in the Second World War, in five different navies, on both sides. These ships were named after types of wind.

The design was used as the basis for the two s built for the Polish Navy during the late 1920s.

Design and description

The Bourrasque class had an overall length of 105.6m (346.5feet), a beam of 9.7m (31.8feet), and a draft of 3.5m (11.5feet). The ships displaced 1320sp=usNaNsp=us at (standard) load and 1825t at deep load. They were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three du Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 31000PS, which would propel the ship at 33kn. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 3000nmi at .[2]

The main armament of the Bourrasque-class ships consisted of four Canon de Modèle 1919 guns in shielded single mounts, one superfiring pair each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of a single Canon de Modèle 1924 gun. The ships carried two triple mounts of 550mm torpedo tubes amidships. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern that housed a total of sixteen 200kg (400lb) depth charges.[2]

Ships

Construction details
Ship nameBuilderLaid downLaunchedCompletedIn serviceFate
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Bourrasque||2Ateliers et Chantiers de France, Dunkirk12 Nov 19235 Aug 192523 Sep 192623 Sep 1926Mined and lost off Nieuwpoort during Operation Dynamo, 30 May 1940
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Cyclone|1925|2Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, Le Havre29 Sep 192324 Jan 192515 Mar 192731 May 192725 Jun 1928Damaged by E-boat S-24 30 May 1940; scuttled at Brest 18 Jun 1940
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Mistral||228 Nov 19236 Jun 19255 Apr 19271 Jun 192721 Jan 1928Constructive total loss 10 Jun 1944; decommissioned 17 Feb 1950
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Orage||2Chantiers Navals Français, Caen20 Aug 192330 Aug 19241 Oct 19261 Sep 192619 Jan 1927Sunk 23 May 1940
French: {{Ship|French destroyer|Ouragan||27 Sep 19236 Dec 192419 Jan 192715 Sep 1927Loaned to Poland; decommissioned 3 Jul 1940
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Simoun||2Ateliers et Chantiers de St Nazaire-Penhoet, St. Nazaire8 Aug 19233 Jun 19241 Jan 192629 Apr 1926Aug 1926Decommissioned 17 Feb 1950; scrapped 1950
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Sirocco||215 Mar 19243 Oct 19251 Jul 19275 Feb 1928Sunk by the E-boats S-23 and S-26 during Operation Dynamo, 31 May 1940
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Tempête||2Ateliers et Chantiers Dubigeon, Nantes3 Dec 192321 Feb 192520 Jul 192628 Sep 1926Sep 1926Decommissioned, scrapped 1950
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Tornade||2Dyle et Bacalan, Bordeaux25 Apr 192312 Mar 19251 Oct 192710 May 192821 May 1928Sunk 8 Nov 1942
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Tramontane||2Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde, Bordeaux29 Jun 192329 Nov 192415 May 192715 Oct 19271 Jan 1928Lost 8 Nov 1942
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Trombe||25 Mar 192427 Dec 19251 Jun 192727 Oct 192721 Dec 1927Scuttled 27 Nov 1942; decommissioned 17 Feb 1950
French: {{ship|French destroyer|Typhon||21 Sep 192322 May 192515 Feb 192827 Jun 192822 Oct 1928Scuttled 9 Nov 1942

Service

Four ships of the class - Bourrasque, Cyclone, Orage and Sirocco - were lost in 1940; Orage on 23 May, sunk by German bombers; Bourasque by German mines and artillery fire on 30 May while evacuating troops from Dunkirk; Sirocco on 31 May, to German torpedo boats while engaged in the same operation; and Cyclone, having been badly damaged on 30 May by torpedo boats was scuttled at Brest on 18 June to prevent her capture.

Mistral and were captured by the British in Plymouth harbour on 3 July 1940 during Operation Catapult. Both were eventually transferred to the Free French. Somewhat circuitously, Ouragan was first transferred to the Free Polish Navy. Both survived the war.

Tornade and Tramontaine were lost in the same engagement off Oran on 8 November 1942, against allied units protecting Operation Torch. Typhon was scuttled in Oran harbour to stop her being acquired by the Allies.

Simoun and Tempête, based at Casablanca, joined the Allies in November 1942. They may have joined the battleship in engaging the Allied 'Covering Group', a taskforce based on the battleship .

Trombe was the only ship of the class to be scuttled at Toulon in November 1942 alongside much of the French Navy. She was later raised, commissioned into the Italian Navy as FR31, and then re-transferred to the Free French on 28 October 1943. This destroyer was crippled (constructive total loss) by a fascist Italian MTM explosive motorboat on 17 April 1945 in the Gulf of Genoa.

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. also known as Simoun class from the first ship completed
  2. Jordan & Moulin, p. 41

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