Maillé-Brézé is a (escorteur d'escadre) of the French Navy. She was built by Arsenal de Lorient in Lorient, commissioned on 4 May 1957 and named after the French admiral Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé (1619–1646).
On 2 March 1962, Maillé-Brézé, along with another four destroyers, landed fresh troops at Algiers to fight the OAS upsurge.[1] Assisted by her sister ship, she was about to shell the OAS-held quarter of Bab-el-Oued when a counter-order called the operation off. The destroyers instead took battle stations close to the shore as a deterrent.[2]
In 1988, she was decommissioned and became a museum ship in Nantes. She has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since October 1991.
On 21 February 2016, director Christopher Nolan announced plans to feature the ship in his then upcoming World War II film Dunkirk.[3] In the film, she portrayed two British destroyers - sister ships and - by simultaneously carrying the D36 pennant number of Vivacious on her port side and stern, and Vanquishers pennant D54 on her starboard side.[4]