French destroyer Poignard

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Sister ship Sape underway
History
France
NamePoignard
NamesakePoignard
Builder
Arsenal de Rochefort
Laid downMay 1905
Launched3 July 1909
Stricken3 May 1926
General characteristics
Class and typeBranlebas-class destroyer
Displacement350 t (344 long tons)
Length58 m (190 ft 3 in) (
p/p
)
Beam6.28 m (20 ft 7 in)
Draft2.96 m (9 ft 9 in)
Installed power
  • 6,800 ihp (5,071 kW)
  • 2
    Du Temple boilers
Propulsion2 shafts; 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph)
Range2,100 nmi (3,900 km; 2,400 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement60
Armament
ArmorWaterline belt: 20 mm (0.8 in)

Poignard was one of 10 Branlebas-class destroyers built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

Construction and career

Poignard collided with the battleship Saint Louis on 6 September 1911 during manoeuvers off Hyères. When the First World War began in August 1914, Poignard was assigned to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla (5e escadrille de torpilleurs) of the

Cattaro, Montenegro, on 1 September. Four days later, the fleet covered the evacuation of Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro to the Greek island of Corfu. The flotilla escorted multiple small convoys loaded with supplies and equipment to Antivari, beginning in October and lasting for the rest of the year, always covered by the larger ships of the Naval Army in futile attempts to lure the Austro-Hungarian fleet into battle.[1]

By February 1915 Poignard and her sister ships Fanfare and Sabretache had been reunited with the rest of the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla blockading the Dardanelles to prevent a breakout into the Mediterranean by the ex-German battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim and light cruiser Midilli.[2]

References

  1. ^ Freivogel, pp. 98–99, 117–121; Prévoteaux, I, pp. 27, 55–56, 59–62
  2. ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 261; Prévoteaux, I, p. 129

Bibliography