The ''L'Adroit''-class destroyer was a group of fourteen
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s (''torpilleur'') laid down in 1925–26 and commissioned from 1928 to 1931. They were the successors to the , with the same armament, but being slightly heavier overall.
Service history
The class saw varied service in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
''La Railleuse'' was the first French destroyer casualty of the war, being blown up in Casablanca harbour by an accidental torpedo explosion on 23 March 1940. ''L'Adroit'' was sunk by a bomb from a German
He 111
The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...
bomber on 21 May 1940 near
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.[shore batteries
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to faci ...]
until the French capitulation. ''Foudroyant'' was sunk in similar circumstances, but with more loss of life, on 1 June 1940.
''Basque'', ''Forbin'' and ''Le Fortuné'' were part of the French
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
squadron, which were disarmed by the British on 22 June 1940 following French capitulation. They were rearmed under
Free French auspices in December 1943.
''Boulonnais'', ''Brestois'', ''Fougueux'' and ''Frondeur'' were all sunk by Allied ships off
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
, as part of
Operation Torch
Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...
. ''L'Alcyon'' survived the attack and later joined the Allies.
''Bordelais'', ''La Palme'' and ''Le Mars'' joined many other French warships in
scuttling at Toulon to stop their being taken over by the German navy.
Ships
* (
Pennant number
In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
: T2, 11, 21, 42, 41, 23, T23)
* (Pennant number: 55, 11, 57, 97, 43, 42, 23, 91, 92, T92, T91, T33)
* (Pennant number: 117, 112, 22, 81, T81, T11)
* (Pennant number: 11, 99, 73, 33, 53, T53, T52)
* (Pennant number: 12, 97, 14, 31, 51, T51)
* (Pennant number: 98, 15, 12, 3, 92, 91, T91, T92, T32)
* (Pennant number: 119, 115, 23, 22, T22)
* (Pennant number: 116, 112, 71, 83, T83, T23, T63)
* (Pennant number: 74, 11, 1, T11, T13)
* (Pennant number: 73, 12, 5, 2, T32)
* (Pennant number: 72, 75, 32, 4, 1, T31)
* (Pennant number: 71, 72, 14, 2, T12)
* (Pennant number: 99, 96, 44, 43, 52, T52)
* (Pennant number: 118, 114, 21, T21)
Notes
References
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External links
''L'Adroit'' class at uboat.net*
{{WWII French ships
World War II destroyers of France
Destroyer classes
Ship classes of the French Navy