The ships were designed to clear naval mines along the coast of France and in the English Channel.[1] French naval documents refer to the ships as chalutiers rather than dragueurs de mines, as the ships were designed to function as fishing trawlers after the war.
A contract for $2.5 million awarded to Canadian Car and Foundry to construct 12 minesweepers for the French government was reported in February 1918.[2] Built in what was then known as Fort William, Ontario, half of the order was completed by early November 1918,[3] and the entire order was finished before the end of the year.[4]
Each vessel was 135feet long and rated at 321 gross register tonnage. Their steel-framed wooden hulls were divided into four water-tight compartments. Each ship was fitted with twin screws and a single funnel, and had a top speed of about 12kn. Two 100abbr=onNaNabbr=on deck-mounted guns, with a range of about 20km (10miles),[1] were located forward and aft.
In November 1918, three of the minesweepers—Inkerman, Cerisoles, and Sebastopol—encountered severe weather while attempting to cross Lake Superior; Sebastopol reached its destination, but the other two ships and their crews were lost; no wreckage of the ships has been located.[5]
See main article: French minesweepers Inkerman and Cerisoles.
A total of 12 Navarin-class minesweepers were built; their names, as listed below, were published in The Gazette of Montreal in November 1918.[6] Seven members of the class are known to have been lost; the fate of the other five members of the class is unclear.
| Hull # | Original name | Launched | Completed | class=unsortable | Namesake | class=unsortable | Disposition | class=unsortable | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Navarin | 29 July 1918 | 20 September 1918 | Battle of Navarino (1827) | Deleted 1965 | ||||
| 2 | Mantoue | 13 August 1918 | 5 October 1918 | Sold 1949 | |||||
| 3 | St. Georges | 21 August 1918 | 26 October 1918 | Battle of Nuits Saint Georges (1870) | Deleted 1952 | ||||
| 4 | Leoben | 29 August 1918 | 1 November 1918 | Peace of Leoben (1797) | Deleted 1933 | ||||
| 5 | Palestro | 19 August 1918 | 16 October 1918 | Battle of Palestro (1859) | Deleted 1936 | ||||
| 6 | Lutzen | 31 August 1918 | 6 November 1918 | Wrecked on Nauset Beach, Cape Cod 1939 | [7] [8] [9] | ||||
| 7 | Bautzen | 14 September 1918 | 12 November 1918 | Foundered off Saint Pierre Island 1961 as Peary MV | [10] | ||||
| 8 | Inkerman | 3 October 1918 | 21 November 1918 | Battle of Inkerman (1854) | [11] | ||||
| 9 | Cerisoles | 25 September 1918 | 21 November 1918 | Battle of Cérisoles (1544) | [12] | ||||
| 10 | Sebastopol | 30 September 1918 | 21 November 1918 | Sold 1920; wrecked off Cape St. Francis 1933 | [13] [14] | ||||
| 11 | Malakoff | 1 October 1918 | 17 November 1918 | Battle of Malakoff (1855) | Sold 1920; foundered at Bay Roberts 1974 as Illex MV | [15] [16] | |||
| 12 | Seneff | 20 September 1918 | 15 November 1918 | Battle of Seneffe (1674) | Sold 1920; wrecked near Canso, Nova Scotia 1955 | [17] [18] |