The Arras-class, sometimes known as the ''Amiens'' class, were a series of

aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an '' ...

(also referred to as

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

s) built for the

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 ...

at the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Design and development

A total of forty three fast "first-rate" avisos for convoy escort duties. These ships were ordered under 1916 and 1917 building programmes for the French Navy and all were named after places on the Western Front lines. Built in nine different military and civilian dockyards across France, The first of which, ''Arras'', entered commission May 1918. The signing of the

Armistice of 11 November 1918 The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...

marked the end of the First World War, and the final thirteen planned Arras-class ships were cancelled. The remaining ships were slowly completed from 1919 to 1924. The ships were modelled after the success of British

Q-ship Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open f ...

s, military ships purposely designed to resemble three-island type merchant

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

s to deceive enemy

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

s. As such, like merchant ships they were considered roomy for their size and remained dry in head seas. The Arras-class had a pp of and an overall length of with a width of and a draught of . At normal displacement the ships were . The majority of the ships were powered by oil-fired twin-shaft

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s engines and carried of fuel oil. The exceptions were ''Craonne'', ''Liévin'', ''Montmirail'', ''Mondement'', ''Baccarat'' and ''Bethune'' which were coal-fired and carried of coal and had two

du Temple boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, a ...

s or

Normand boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...

s. The range of ''Arras-class'' was at . Oil-fired ships were faster, and capable of reaching s while coal-fired ships were slower. The ''Arras-class'' were armed with two single /55 Modèle 1910 guns in unshielded mounts mounted at the bow and stern. Secondary armament consisted of a single /62.5 Modèle 1908 gun on a central high-angled mount as

anti-aircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

. Initially armed with four single /80 Modèle 1914 machine guns, these were later replaced with four single 13.2 mm/76 Modèle 1929 machine guns. Some ships were briefly armed with two single /48.5 Modèle 1916 Army-pattern guns. Bapaume (1920)

Ships completed before the end of the war participated in the trans-Atlantic convoys. In the

Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

the avisos ''Belfort'', ''Épernay'', ''Lunéville'', ''Péronne'', ''Revigny'' in November 1927 and ''Reims'' in 1928, were loaned to the ''Compagnie générale aéropostale''. While in ''Compagnie générale aéropostale'' service Épernay caught fire and was destroyed off of

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

in 1930. The surviving ships were returned to French naval service in 1931. ''Bar-le-Duc'' foundered and was stricken off of

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor ...

while escorting

Wrangel's fleet Wrangel's Fleet was the last remnant of the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy and existed from 1920 until 1924. This squadron was a "White" (anti-communist and anti-revolutionary) unit during the Russian Civil War. It was known also as ...

during the

Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War or Allied Powers intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions which began in 1918. The Allies first had the goal of helping the Czechoslovak Leg ...

in 1920. Other ships were reassigned to a variety of duties. ''Les Éparges'' and ''Ypres'' were disarmed and converted to

Survey vessel A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the purpo ...

s. ''Vauquois'' and ''Remiremont'' were used as

Training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classr ...

s. ''Bapaume'' was temporarily given a

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

from bow to bridge for

takeoff Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a t ...

training for

French Naval Aviation French Naval Aviation (often abbreviated in French to: ''Aéronavale'' (contraction of Aéronautique navale), or ''Aviation navale'', or more simply ''l'Aéro'') is the naval air arm of the French Navy. The long-form official designation is ' ...

under a plan devised by naval aviation pioneer

Paul Teste Paul Marcel Teste (2 October 1892 – 13 June 1925) was a French Navy officer aviator, notable for the first aeronaval landing of the French Navy aboard the French aircraft carrier Béarn, ''Béarn''. Life Teste was born at Lorient, into a naval f ...

between 1920 and 1924. ''Belfort'' was converted to a

seaplane tender A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

. At the start of the Second World War in 1939, nineteen ''Arras''-class avisos had been retired and only eleven still remained in active service. Several ships of the class were active in the evacuation of Allied Forces after the collapse of France in June 1940. One of which, ''Vauquois'' was sunk by a

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

on 18 June 1940. After the

Armistice of 22 June 1940 The Armistice of 22 June 1940 was signed at 18:36 near Compiègne, France, by officials of Nazi Germany and the Third French Republic. It did not come into effect until after midnight on 25 June. Signatories for Germany included Wilhelm Keitel ...

was signed between

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

, the French navy became split in two. French navy ships in British ports were interned and soon passed to the fledgling

Free French Naval Forces The Free French Naval Forces (french: Forces Navales Françaises Libres, or FNFL) were the naval arm of the Free French Forces during the Second World War. They were commanded by Admiral Émile Muselier. History In the wake of the Armistice a ...

. These were ''Amiens'', ''Arras'', ''Belfort'', ''Coucy'', and ''Epinal''. Those ships still in France and her

colonial empire A colonial empire is a collective of territories (often called colonies), either contiguous with the imperial center or located overseas, settled by the population of a certain state and governed by that state. Before the expansion of early mode ...

swore allegiance to the new

collaborationist Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to t ...

Vichy French Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

government of

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of World ...

. ''Calais'' participated in the defence of Dakar in September 1940. ''Tahure'', which was stationed in Vichy-controlled

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

during the

French-Thai war The Franco-Thai War (October 1940 – January 28, 1941, th, กรณีพิพาทอินโดจีน, Krṇī phiphāth xindocīn; french: Guerre franco-thaïlandaise) was fought between Thailand and Vichy France over certain areas o ...

and participated in the

Battle of Koh Chang The Battle of Ko Chang took place on 17 January 1941 during the Franco-Thai War in which a flotilla of French warships attacked a smaller force of Thai vessels, including a coastal defence ship. The battle resulted in a tactical victory by the ...

on 17 January 1941. ''Tahure'' was sunk by (the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

having declared war on the Vichy French government with

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 ...

) on 29 April 1944. While in Vichy French service, ''Lassigny'' was retired in 1941 and ''Ypres'' (formerly ''Dunkerque'') was retired April 1942. ''Les Éparges'' was scuttled in Toulon on 27 November 1942 but was raised by Germany and converted to a

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

. She was renamed ''M6060'' and commissioned into the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

on 5 May 1943. She was in the process of being converted to an escort shipped and renamed ''SG25'' when she caught fire and work on her was abandoned 1 March 1944. After the war the surviving ships of the class were returned to France and

broken up Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sold for re-use, ...

, the last remaining ''Arras''-class ship, ''Amiens'' was scrapped 13 October 1949.

Ships

Cancelled ships were ''Betheny'', ''Chalons'', ''Château-Thierry'', ''Compiègne'', ''Douaumont'', ''Fère-Champenoise'', ''Gerbeviller'', ''Noyon'', ''Roye'', ''Saint-Dié'', ''Senlis'', ''Soissons'' and ''Souchez''.

References

{{Arras-class avisos Sloop classes Ship classes of the French Navy

Design and development

Ships

See also

References