French destroyer Tigre

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For other ships with the same name, see French ship Tigre.

History
France
NameTigre
NamesakeTiger
Ordered26 February 1923
BuilderAteliers et Chantiers de Bretagne, Nantes
Laid down18 September 1923
Launched2 August 1924
Completed1 February 1926
In service7 February 1926
Out of serviceJuly 1940
Captured27 November 1942
Kingdom of Italy
NameFR23
AcquiredAfter 27 November 1942
Commissioned19 January 1943
FateReturned to France, 28 October 1943
Free French
NameTigre
Acquired28 October 1943
Recommissioned15 December 1943
Out of serviceSeptember 1948
ReclassifiedAs a stationary training ship, late 1948
Stricken4 January 1954
FateScrapped, 1955
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeChacal-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 2,126 t (2,092 long tons) (standard)
  • 2,980–3,075 t (2,933–3,026 long tons) (
    full load
    )
Length126.8 m (416 ft 0.1 in)
Beam11.1 m (36 ft 5.0 in)
Draft4.1 m (13 ft 5.4 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph)
Range3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Crew12 officers, 209 crewmen (wartime)
Armament

The French destroyer Tigre was a

scuttled
and was captured virtually intact.

The Germans later turned her over to the

Navy List in 1954 and broken up
for scrap the following year.

Design and description

The Chacal-class ships were designed to counter the large Italian

kW; 49,000 shp), which would propel the ship at 35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph). During her sea trials on 3 October 1925, Tigre's turbines provided 57,200 metric horsepower (42,100 kW; 56,400 shp) and she reached 36.7 knots (68.0 km/h; 42.2 mph) for a single hour. The ships carried 530 metric tons (522 long tons) of fuel oil which gave them a range of 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Their crew consisted of 10 officers and 187 crewmen in peacetime and 12 officers and 209 enlisted men in wartime.[3]

The main armament of the Chacal-class ships consisted of five

amidships. The ships carried two above-water triple sets of 550-millimeter (21.7 in) torpedo tubes. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of twenty 200-kilogram (440 lb) depth charges. They were also fitted with four depth-charge throwers for which they carried a dozen 100-kilogram (220 lb) depth charges.[4]

Construction and career

Tigre, named after the

Marseilles. The following month, she was one of the ships that escorted Doumergue across the English Channel during his state visit to Britain in May–June 1927. Tigre was also present when he next reviewed the fleet on 3 July 1928 off Le Havre.[5] On 9 October 1928, Tigre got underway from Toulon with Chacal and Panthère to search for the missing submarine Ondine.[6]

Tigre and Chacal escorted the

ASDIC installed; in addition two depth-charge throwers were reinstalled, No. 3 gun removed, and her depth charge stowage reduced to a dozen 200 kg and eight 100 kg depth charges to improve her stability.[8] The ship managed to escape the harbor during the British attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July and briefly engaged the destroyer HMS Wrestler, together with her sister Lynx. The sisters then depth charged the submarine HMS Proteus[9] as the French ships headed for Toulon, where they arrived the following day.[10] As the oldest contre-torpilleurs in service, Tigre and her sisters were reduced to reserve and stripped of their light anti-aircraft armament.[11]

On 27 November 1942, the ship was captured almost intact by the Germans when they occupied Toulon and was turned over to the Italians on 14 December. The Regia Marina redesignated her as FR23 and she

40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors and ten single Oerlikon light AA guns. Tigre was then assigned to the French-controlled task force, known as Flank Force, that provided naval gunfire support for Allied forces operating near the Italian-French border and protected the Allied flank against German naval forces in Genoa and La Spezia, Italy.[13]

The ship was in Toulon when the war ended in May 1945. She provided fire support to French forces during the riots in Algeria later that month and in June. Tigre then began ferrying troops throughout the Mediterranean until December 1946. She then became a gunnery training ship until 9 September 1948 while the destroyer Albatros was being converted. Afterwards, Tigre served as a stationary training ship for the Engineer School at Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer until she was stricken from the Navy List on 4 January 1954. The hulk was scrapped the following year.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ The 9th DL went through a series of redesignations over the next few years. It became the 11th DL on 1 October 1934, the 1st DCT on 12 April 1937 and the 4th DCT on 15 September 1938.[7]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Jordan & Moulin, p. 22
  2. ^ Chesneau, p. 267
  3. ^ Jordan & Moulin, pp. 18, 22–27
  4. ^ Jordan & Moulin, pp. 27–33
  5. ^ Jordan & Moulin, pp. 20–21, 206, 209–11, 213–14
  6. ^ Sous-Marins Français Disparus & Accidents: Sous-Marin Ondine (in French) Accessed 14 October 2022
  7. ^ Jordan & Moulin, p. 217
  8. ^ Jordan & Moulin, pp. 39, 202, 225, 231
  9. ^ Jordan & Dumas, p. 83
  10. ^ Rohwer, p. 31
  11. ^ Jordan & Moulin, p. 232
  12. ^ Brescia, p. 135; Cernuschi & O'Hara, p. 143; Jordan & Moulin, p. 248; Whitley, pp. 37, 186
  13. ^ Jordan & Moulin, pp. 258–59, 262, 264, 267; Whitley, p. 37
  14. ^ Jordan & Moulin, p. 282

References

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