Marine Nationale (French Navy) during the late 1930s. The ship was completed during the Battle of France in mid-1940 and her first mission was to help escort a battleship to Dakar, French West Africa, only days before the French signed an armistice with the Germans. After the British attack on Dakar in September, she was one of four destroyers ordered to attack British shipping, although there was only an inconclusive duel with a British destroyer. Fleuret helped to escort one of the battleships damaged by the British during their July attack on Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, back to France in November and was then reduced to reserve
.
When the
scuttled again by the Germans as a blockship in mid-1944. The ship was refloated in 1951 and later scrapped
.
Design and description
The Le Hardi class was designed to escort the fast
kW; 57,207 shp), which was intended to give the ships a maximum speed of 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph). Le Hardi, the only ship of the class to run sea trials, comfortably exceeded that speed during her trials on 6 November 1939, reaching a maximum speed of 39.1 knots (72.4 km/h; 45.0 mph) from 60,450 metric horsepower (44,461 kW; 59,623 shp). The ships carried 470 metric tons (463 long tons) of fuel oil which gave them a range of 3,100 nautical miles (5,700 km; 3,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The crew consisted of 10 officers and 177 enlisted men.[3]
The main armament of the Le Hardi-class ships consisted of six
traverse to both sides. One depth charge chute was built into the stern that housed eight 200-kilogram (440 lb) depth charges. The other side of the stern was intended to be used for the handling gear for a "Ginocchio" anti-submarine torpedo, but this was removed before Fleuret was completed.[4]
Construction and career
Ordered on 31 December 1935, Fleuret was
Occupied France. After the British attack on Dakar in September, Fleuret and her sister Épée, together with the destroyers Fougueux and Frondeur were ordered to attack British shipping in the Strait of Gibraltar on 25 September in retaliation. They encountered only an unidentified British destroyer; Fleuret's fire-control director malfunctioned and she was unable to engage her opponent at all. The ships continued onward to Oran, French Algeria, and Fleuret later returned to Casablanca on 7 October.[5]
The following months saw five of the Le Hardi-class ships ordered to Oran to escort the battleship Provence, which had been damaged during the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, to Toulon; Fleuret arrived there on 15 October. Departing on 6 November, they arrived at Toulon two days later at which time the ship was reduced to reserve. On 1 April 1941, Fleuret was renamed Foudroyant to commemorate the destroyer of that name that had been sunk during the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. When the Germans attempted to capture the French ships in Toulon intact on 27 November 1942, Foudroyant, still in reserve, was scuttled by her crew.[6] An Italian salvage syndicate refloated her on 20 May 1943 and she was redesignated as FR36 by the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy).[7] The ship was damaged by a bomb during an Allied bombing raid on 7 March 1944 and was scuttled by the Germans as a blockship in the main channel on 17 August. She was finally refloated in 1951 and scrapped in 1957.[8]
Cernuschi, Enrico & O'Hara, Vincent P. (2013). "Toulon: The Self-Destruction and Salvage of the French Fleet". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2013. London: Conway. pp. 134–148.
France
French Navy
Kriegsmarine
Regia Marina
