French destroyer Fronde
Fronde underway in harbor
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History | |
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France | |
Name | Fronde |
Namesake | Sling |
Ordered | 14 November 1900 |
Builder | Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde, Bordeaux-Lormont |
Laid down | January 1901 |
Launched | 17 December 1902 |
Commissioned | April 1903 |
Stricken | 30 October 1919 |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 6 May 1920 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Arquebuse-class destroyer |
Displacement | 357 deep load ) |
Length | 56.58 m (185 ft 8 in) ( o/a ) |
Beam | 6.38 m (20 ft 11 in) |
Draft | 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) (deep load) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) |
Range | 2,300 nmi (4,300 km; 2,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 4 officers and 58 enlisted men |
Armament |
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Fronde was a Arquebuse-class destroyer contre-torpilleur d'escadre built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1903, the ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditerranée), but was transferred to the Far East the following year. The ship was wrecked during a typhoon in 1906, but was salvaged and returned to service. She participated in the Battle of Penang in 1914, a few months after the beginning of the World War I. Fronde was transferred to the Mediterranean in 1915 and remained there for the war. The ship was sold for scrap in 1920.
Design and description
The Arquebuse
The main armament of the Arquebuse-class ships consisted of a single 65-millimeter (2.6 in) gun forward of the
Construction and career
Fronde (French for "
Fronde was wrecked in the 1906 typhoon that hit Hong Kong; the storm rolled the ship onto the beach, and five of her crew were killed in the accident.[9][10][11] The ship was raised and then dry docked in Kowloon to be repaired by the Hong Kong Dock Company.[12] The Fronde Memorial, a granite obelisk, was erected in May 1908 in memory of the five sailors of the Fronde who disappeared in the sinking of their boat near the Torpedo Depot, in Kowloon. Initially erected at the corner of Gascoigne Road and Jordan Road, the monument was later relocated to Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley.[10][13]
In March 1907, the three destroyers were assigned to the newly formed 1st China Sea Torpedo Boat Flotilla (1re Flotille des torpilleurs des mers de Chine) of the Far East Squadron.[8] As of 1911, the renamed Naval Division of the Far East (Division navale de l'Extrême-Orient) consisted of the armored cruisers Dupleix and Kléber, the old torpedo cruiser D'Iberville, Fronde and two other destroyers, six torpedo boats, and four submarines, along with a number of smaller vessels.[14] Fronde was reduced to reserve in March 1914.[8]
World War I
At the start of
Fronde was present in the harbor at Penang, a British Crown colony, on 27 October 1914, moored alongside her sister Pistolet. The other major Triple Entente ships in the harbor included D'Iberville and the Russian protected cruiser Zhemchug. In the early hours of 28 October, the German light cruiser SMS Emden entered the harbor to attack the Entente vessels there. In the ensuing Battle of Penang, Emden quickly torpedoed and sank Zhemchug. As Emden turned to leave the harbor, Fronde and D'Iberville opened fire, but their gun crews fired wildly and failed to score any hits on the German raider. The German vessel then encountered Fronde's sister Mousquet, which was returning to Penang when the attack began. Emden quickly sank Mousquet and stopped to pick up survivors, but in the meantime, Fronde had gotten underway and attempted to close with Emden. The Germans fled, pursued by Fronde, for about two hours before Emden was able to disappear into a rain squall.[17]
In March 1915, Fronde was fully reactivated
References
- ^ a b c d e Roberts, p. 377
- ^ Couhat, p. 86
- ^ Stanglini & Cosentino, p. 227
- ^ Couhat, pp. 86–87
- ^ a b c Roberts, p. 379
- ^ Campbell, p. 326
- ^ Roberts, pp. 378–379
- ^ a b c d e Le Masson, p. 137
- ^ Harvey, p. 1601
- ^ a b Heaver, 2018.
- ^ Mok, 2022, p. 176.
- ^ Latest Telegraphic Intelligence, p. 140
- ^ Lim, p. 448
- ^ Burgoyne, p. 66
- ^ Jordan & Caresse 2019, p. 219
- ^ Corbett, p. 155
- ^ Staff, pp. 129–132
- ^ Dumont, Jacques. "Les circonstances de la perte du torpilleur auxiliaire grec Doxa, survenue le 27 juin 1917 dans le détroit de Messine" [The Circumstances of the Loss of the Auxiliary Greek Destroyer Doxa on 27 June 1917 in the Strait of Messina]. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
- ^ Prevoteaux II, p. 120
- ^ Jordan & Caresse 2017, p. 279
- ^ Silverstone, p. 109
Bibliography
- Burgoyne, Alan H., ed. (1911). "The French Navy". The Navy League Annual. V. London: John Murray: 57–66. OCLC 809125514.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- OCLC 174823980.
- Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
- Harvey, George, ed. (10 November 1906). "Heroism and Suffering in the Typhoon at Hongkong". Harper's Weekly. Vol. L, no. 2603. New York: Harper & Brothers. pp. 1600–1601.
- Heaver, Stephen (19 June 2018). "French navy memorial in Hong Kong for five sailors who died in great typhoon of 1906 gets overdue restoration". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2019). French Armoured Cruisers 1887–1932. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4118-9.
- Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
- "Latest Telegraphic Intelligence". The North China Herald and Supreme Court and Consular Gazette. LXXXII. Shanghai: North China Daily News and Herald Ltd.: 138–149 18 January 1907.
- Le Masson, Henri (1967). Histoire du Torpilleur en France [History of the Torpedo-armed Ship in France]. Paris: Académie de marine. OCLC 491016784.
- Lim, Patricia (2011). Forgotten Souls: A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery. Hong Kong: ISBN 9789622099906.
- Mok, Hing Yang; Shun, Chi Ming; Davies, Stephen; Lui, Wing Hong; Lau, Dick Shum; Cheung, Kai Chun; Kong, Kwan Yin; Chan, Sai Tick (September 2022), "A historical re-analysis of the calamitous midget typhoon passing through Hong Kong on 18 September 1906 and its storm surge impact to Hong Kong", Tropical Cyclone Research and Review, 11 (3), Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communication Co. Ltd.: 174–218, S2CID 252856181Under a Creative Commons license
- Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome II 1916–1918 [The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book II 1916–1918]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 27. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN 978-2-37468-001-9.
- Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). The New Navy, 1883–1922. New York City: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-97871-8.
- Staff, Gary (2011). Battle on the Seven Seas. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime. ISBN 978-1-84884-182-6.
- Stanglini, Ruggero & Cosentino, Michelle (2022). The French Fleet: Ships, Strategy and Operations, 1870–1918. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-0131-2.
External links
- Media related to Fronde (ship, 1902) at Wikimedia Commons
- (in French) Details about the Fronde: [1], [2], [3]