French Destroyer Bisson

''Bisson'' was the name ship of her class of destroyers built for the French Navy during the 1910s, entering service in 1913. She served in the Mediterranean Sea during the First World War, sinking the Austro-Hungarian submarine on 6 July 1915 and took part in the Battle of Durazzo in December 1915 and the Battle of the Strait of Otranto in May 1917. She was stricken in 1933 and scrapped in 1939.

Design and description

The ''Bisson'' class were enlarged versions of the preceding built to a more standardized design. The ships had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of . They displaced at normal load. Their crew numbered 4 officers and 77–84 enlisted ranks.

''Renaudin'' was powered by a pair of Breguet steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by four Guyot-du Temple water-tube boilers. The engines were designed to produce which was intended to give the ships a speed of . During her sea trials, ''Renaudin'' reached a speed of .Couhat, p. 111 The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at a cruising speed of .

The primary armament of the ''Bisson''-class ships consisted of two Modèle 1893 guns in single mounts, one each fore and aft of the superstructure, and four Modèle 1902 guns distributed amidships. They were also fitted with two twin mounts for torpedo tubes amidships, one on each broadside.

Construction and career

''Bisson'' was ordered on 23 November 1910 as part of the 1910 naval program from the Arsenal de Toulon and was laid down on 1 January 1911. She was launched on 12 September 1912 and began her sea trials on 10 February 1913. The ship was commissioned on 8 September and was assigned to the 6th Destroyer Flotilla () of the 1st Naval Army () in the Mediterranean.

First World War

During the preliminary stages of the Battle of Antivari, Montenegro, on 16 August 1914, the 1st, 4th and 5th Destroyer Flotillas were tasked to escort the core of the 1st Naval Army while the 2nd, 3rd and 6th Flotillas escorted the armored cruisers of the 2nd Light Squadron () and two British cruisers. After reuniting both groups and spotting the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser and the destroyer , the French destroyers played no role in sinking the cruiser, although the 4th Flotilla was sent on an unsuccessful pursuit of ''Ulan''. Having broken the Austro-Hungarian blockade of Antivari (now known as Bar), Vice-Admiral () Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, commander of the 1st Naval Army, decided to ferry troops and supplies to the port using a small requisitioned passenger ship, , escorted by the 2nd Light Squadron, reinforced by the armored cruiser , and escorted by the destroyer with the 1st and 6th Destroyer Flotillas under command while the rest of the 1st Naval Army bombarded the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro, Montenegro, on 1 September. Four days later, the fleet covered the evacuation of Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro, aboard ''Bouclier'', 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. Amidst these missions, the 1st and 6th Flotillas were led by the as they conducted a sweep south of Cattaro on the night of 10/11 November in an unsuccessful search for Austro-Hungarian destroyers.

The torpedoing of the on 21 December caused a change in French tactics as the battleships were too important to risk to submarine attack. Henceforth, only the destroyers would escort the transports, covered by cruisers at a distance of from the transports. The first convoy of 1915 to Antivari arrived on 11 January and more were made until the last one on 20–21 April. On 6 May 1915, ''Bisson'' and the armored cruiser spotted the Austrian light cruiser between Cephalonia and Calabria and chased the Austrian ship, but ''Admiral Spaun'' outpaced the two French ships and escaped. After Italy signed the Treaty of London and declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 23 May, the ship was still assigned to the 6th Flotilla when the unit was transferred to the 1st Division of Destroyers and Submarines () of the 2nd Squadron () based at Brindisi, Italy. On 24–26 May, ''Bisson'' and the destroyer escorted five submarines from Malta to their new base at Brindisi.

Regular duties included escorting ships to Montenegro and supporting Franco-Italian patrols aimed at stopping Austro-Hungarian surface ships and submarines from passing through the Straits of Otranto. On 8 June, ''Bisson'' formed part of a force of four Italian destroyers and three French destroyers escorting the British light cruiser on a patrol off the Albanian coast intended to destroy Austro-Hungarian light naval forces. Despite the strong escort, the Austro-Hungarian submarine managed to torpedo ''Dublin'', killing 13 of the British cruiser's crew, but the escort managed to drive away several more suspected submarine attacks, and ''Dublin'' successfully reached Brindisi without further damage.

On 12 July, the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, including ''Bisson'', was part of the force that raided the island of Lastovo off the Austrian coast of the Adriatic (now part of Croatia), destroying oil stores and the telegraph station. This attack was simultaneous with the Italian occupation of Palagruža. On 5 August the Austrian submarine made an unsuccessful attack on the Italian armed merchant cruiser . Several destroyers, including ''Bisson'', were sent to intercept the Austrian submarine, and on the next morning ''Bisson'' spotted ''U-3'' on the surface and opened fire, sinking the submarine. Twelve of ''U-3''s crew were rescued.

Battle of Durazzo

On 29 November 1915, the Austro-Hungarian cruiser and five destroyers attacked the port of Durazzo, Albania, where two Austro-Hungarian destroyers struck mines, with one () sinking and the second () being taken under tow. Allied naval forces sortied from Brindisi in response, including five French destroyers (''Bisson'', , , and ), two British cruisers ( and ), two Italian cruisers ( and ) and four Italian destroyers. ''Dartmouth'' and the French destroyers intercepted the slowly retreating Austro-Hungarian force, with the destroyers being sent against ''Triglav'' while ''Dartmouth'' engaged ''Helgoland''. The approach of the French destroyers forced the Austrians to scuttle ''Triglav'', but ''Helgoland'' and the remaining Austrian destroyers managed to escape.

On 2 August 1916 ''Bisson'', ''Commandant Bory'' and the Italian destroyers ''Ardito'' and ''Impavido'' were returning from supporting a raid by Italian MAS boats ( motor torpedo boats) on Durazzo when they encountered the Austro-Hungarian destroyers and , which were returning from bombarding the Italian city of Molfetta. The French and Italian destroyers set off in pursuit of the Austro-Hungarian ships, but broke off the chase as they neared the Austrian base of Cattaro (now Kotor). After turning back, the Franco-Italian force was unsuccessfully attacked by the Austro-Hungarian submarine ''U-4''.

Otranto Straits

On the night of 14/15 May 1917, the Austro-Hungarian fleet carried out an attack on the Otranto Barrage. The cruisers , and ''Helgoland'' attacked the drifters of the Otranto Barrage, while the destroyers ''Csepel'' and ''Balaton'' mounted a diversionary attack against shipping off the coast of Albania. ''Bisson'' was part of a group of four Italian and French warships patrolling North of the Barrage line to protect it against attacks. On hearing reports of the attacks, Rear Admiral Alfredo Acton, the Allied commander, ordered ''Mirabello''s group to steer south to intercept the Austrian forces, while more powerful forces, including the light cruisers ''Dartmouth'' and set out from Bridisi. The ''Mirabello'' group, including ''Bisson'' encountered the Austro-Hungarian cruisers on the morning of 15 May and as their guns were outranged by those of the cruisers, shadowed the Austro-Hungarian ships until more powerful forces could engage, but the slower French destroyers could not keep pace with the Austro-Hungarian ships and fell astern of ''Mirabello''.

''Bisson'' rescued the crew of an Italian flying boat, that had forced to ditch by engine trouble, before she, together with the rest of the ''Mirabello'' group, was ordered to join up with ''Dartmouth'' and ''Bristol''. However, first ''Mirabello'' briefly lost power owing to contamination of fuel, then ''Commandant Rivière'' suffered engine failure. ''Mirabello'' took ''Commandant Rivière'' under tow while ''Bisson'' escorted the two ships on their voyage home.

In June 1918, in response to the threat posed by the potential seizure of ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet by the Germans following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the German advance into Ukraine, ''Bisson'' formed part of the escort for four French Pre-dreadnought battleships deployed to Mudros in the Aegean Sea.

Post war

In 1919, ''Bisson'' was deployed to the Black Sea. She was stricken in June 1933 and scrapped in 1939.

Notes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisson
Bisson-class destroyers
Ships built in France
1913 ships