French Destroyer Fougueux

The French destroyer ''Fougueux'' was one of 14 s built for the French Navy during the 1920s. Completed in 1930, the ship was initially assigned to the 1st Squadron () in the Mediterranean. Five years later she was transferred to the 2nd Squadron () in the Atlantic. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, ''Fougueux'' was one of the ships that helped to enforce the non-intervention agreement.

When France declared war on Germany in September 1939, the ship spent most of the next year escorting convoys. She bombarded German troops in the Netherlands and provided naval gunfire support to French troops during the Battle of France in May 1940. ''Fougueux'' helped to escort an incomplete battleship away from Metropolitan France to prevent its capture by the Germans the following month. The ship took refuge in Casablanca, French Morocco before the Armistice with Germany later in June. She spent most of the next two years on escort duties between French North Africa and Metropolitan France. ''Fougueux'' was sunk during the Naval Battle of Casablanca in November 1942 as the Allies invaded French North Africa during Operation Torch.

Design and description

The ''L'Adroit'' class was a slightly enlarged and improved version of the preceding ''Bourrasque'' class. The ships had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of . The ships displaced at standard load and at deep load. ''Fougueux'' was powered by two Zoelly-Schneider geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by three du Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ships at . The ships carried of fuel oil which gave them a range of at . The crew numbered 8 officers and 134 crewmen in peacetime and 9 officers and 153 crewmen during wartime.

The main armament of the ''L'Adroit''-class ships consisted of four Canon de mm Modèle 1924 guns in single mounts, one superfiring pair each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of a pair of Canon de mm Modèle 1925 guns, one mount on each broadside abreast the rear superstructure. For defense against strafing aircraft the ships were equipped with a pair of mounts for two or four Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine guns abreast the bridge. The ships carried two above-water triple sets of torpedo tubes. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of sixteen depth charges. In addition two Thornycroft depth-charge throwers were fitted at the end of the forecastle for which six depth charges were carried.

Modifications

The French Navy decided to convert some of the ''L'Adroit''-class ships to fast fleet minesweepers to clear the path of the main battlefleet in 1933 and two paravanes were installed aboard ''Fougueux'' in 1934. A high-angle stereoscopic rangefinder for the anti-aircraft (AA) guns was added on the rear superstructure sometime after October 1933. The original coincidence rangefinder for the main battery was replaced by a model in April 1937. It was enclosed in a lightweight turret before September 1939.

The Navy belatedly began to realize the value of underwater detection systems for anti-submarine warfare in the late 1930s. The Multispot hydrophone system was installed in all the ships of the class by the end of February 1939. A French-built sonar system designated SS1 was installed in three of the ''L'Adroit''s that year and the Navy ordered 16 Type 123 ASDIC systems on 10 May 1939 from the British with a follow-on order for 25 more Type 123s and 25 of the more advanced Type 128s in October. Deliveries did not begin until August and only two systems per month were received; ''Fougueux'' received her Type 123 installation in Lorient in March 1940.

Beginning in March 1939 twin-gun mounts for the Hotchkiss Modèle 1929 machine gun began to replace the mounts for the 8 mm weapons. To compensate for the weight high in the ship of all these changes, initially one torpedo, but later two were removed from the ''L'Adroit''s. While under repair in June 1940, ''Fougueux'' had a single Hotchkiss Modèle 1939 AA gun installed on the rear superstructure and the mainmast was removed to clear the weapon's firing arc and reduce top weight. After the French armistice with Germany, the paravanes were removed and the two depth charge throwers were repositioned to the stern and another pair was added. The number of depth charges was increased to fifteen 200 kg weapons and thirty-two 100 kg weapons. The ship also received two single mounts for 13.2 mm Browning machine guns on the stern and the Hotchkiss 13.2 mm guns were provided with gun shields.

Construction and career

''Fougueux'' was ordered on 3 May 1927 as part of the 1926 Naval Program and laid down on 21 September by Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne at its shipyard in Nantes. The ship was launched on 4 August 1928 and completed on 15 June 1930. She was based at Toulon and assigned to the 11th Torpedo Division () of the Torpedo Flotilla () of the 1st Squadron as of 1 October. ''Fougueux'' was transferred to the 2nd Squadron based at Brest on 27 July 1935 and assigned to the newly formed 2nd Torpedo Division on 1 October. The ship was detached to French Morocco in late 1935. Albert Lebrun, President of France, inaugurated the new building of the Naval Academy () in Brest and reviewed the 2nd Squadron on 30 May 1936, including ''Fougueux'' and five of her sister ships. The 2nd Squadron was renamed as the Atlantic Squadron on 15 August and the ship remained assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Division. ''Fougueux'' and her sister were enforcing the non-intervention agreement during the Spanish Civil War on 9 August 1938 when they were attacked by four bombers of the Spanish Republican Air Force, but the bombs fell wide of the ships.

World War II

''Fougueux'' and most of the other destroyers were assigned convoy escort missions when the war began in September 1939. Most of them were uneventful, but the ship dropped depth charges on a periscope sighting without result on 14 January 1940. She made an unsuccessful attack on the after the submarine had sunk the freighter on 24 January. On 29 March 1940, the ship's ASDIC set detected a submarine and ''Fougueux'' attacked the contact with depth charges, but it was almost certainly a sunken wreck. ''Fougueux'' and three other destroyers bombarded German troops around Walcheren and Zuid-Beveland in the Netherlands on 16–17 May. The ship supported French troops defending Boulogne-sur-Mer against German troops as they approached the port on 23–24 May. She was hit by a bomb on the morning of 24 May and had to withdraw to Cherbourg for repairs. ''Fougueux'' and ''Frondeur'' escorted the incomplete battleship from Brest to Casablanca, French Morocco, from 18 to 20 June.

The ship was still in Casablanca when Armistice with Germany went into effect on 25 June. Convoys between Casablanca and Metropolitan France began in August and ''Fougueux'' was one of the ships tasked with escorting them. After the British attack on Dakar in September, ''Fougueux'' and ''Frondeur'', together with the destroyers and were ordered to attack British shipping in the Strait of Gibraltar in retaliation as the Vichy French government began a policy of limited cooperation with the Axis Powers. They encountered only an unidentified British destroyer and all of ''Épée''s guns malfunctioned after firing a total of only 14 rounds while ''Fleuret''s fire-control director brokedown entirely. The ships continued onward to Oran, French Algeria. ''Fougueux'' was refitted in Algiers, French Algeria, from 23 November to 18 March 1941. On 8 April ''Fougueux'' responded to a distress call broadcast by the banana boat as she was being boarded by sailors from the British armed merchant cruiser . ''Fort de France'' was retaken four days later. On 6 February 1942, ''Fougueux'' was transferred to Oran, and then helped to escort the damaged battleship from Mers el-Kebir, French Algeria, to Toulon on 19–20 February. The destroyer returned to Oran afterward and began a major refit there. Still assigned to the 2nd Destroyer Division, the destroyers at Casablanca were placed under the newly formed 2nd Light Squadron () on 18 April. ''Fougueux'' arrived back at Casablanca on 21 August.

Naval battle of Casablanca

As Operation Torch began before dawn on 8 November, the Americans launched an amphibious landing east of Fedala, French Morocco. The 2nd Light Squadron was ordered to raise steam and attack the enemy off Fedala at 0630. Visibility was poor as the early morning haze blanketed the area and it decreased over the course of the day as smoke from burning oil storage tanks and smoke screens laid by French ships worsened. The squadron had exited the harbor by 0815 and was steaming for Fedala at . ''Fougueux'' and ''Frondeur'' were in the rear of the formation. Rear Admiral Gervais de Lafond was commanding the squadron and he ordered it to reverse course around 0840, upon spotting the heavy cruiser , and hoping to lure it within range of the immobile battleship and coast-defense guns. ''Fougueux'' missed the signal and continued to lead ''Frondeur'' towards Fedala. ''Augusta'' opened fire at ''Fougueux'' at a range of at 0843. Around 0848 the destroyer was strafed by Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, killing one of the navigators, the helmsman and several signalmen. One shell from ''Augusta'' near missed the ship at 0850, its splinters causing minor flooding damage. Commander Louis Sticca, ''Fougueux''s captain, realized that his division was alone and he reversed course at 0852, not realizing that his ships were the furthest west and closest to the American ships.

Task Group 34.1, consisting of the battleship and her consorts, the heavy cruisers and , had finally been alerted to the French sortie and were rapidly approaching the 2nd Destroyer Division by 0900. The battleship spotted the French destroyers at 0916 and opened fire at a range of . The French replied two minutes later, but neither side scored any hits before the American ships reversed course at 0935. Five minutes later a shell struck ''Fougueux''s bow, crushing it up to the quarterdeck and setting the ship on fire. The ship had fired only 120 main-gun rounds thus far. Heavy flooding prompted Sticca to quickly order his crew to abandon ship. ''Frondeur'' attempted to go to her sister's aid, but she was hit by an shell from ''Tuscaloosa'' at 0946. Informed that ''Fougueux'' did not need assistance, ''Frondeur'' sheered off and steamed to rendezvous with the ships of the 5th Destroyer Division.

''Fougueux'' blew up and sank at 1000; a total of 14 men had been killed. The aviso exited the harbor at 1006 and attempted to rescue ''Fougueux''s survivors, but she was engaged by ''Tuscaloosa'' as soon as she was spotted by the American heavy cruiser. The sloop managed to do so around 1200. ''La Grandière'' made another attempt around 1330, but exchanged shots with ''Augusta'' around that time.O'Hara, pp. 210–212

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fougueux (1928)
L'Adroit-class destroyers
World War II destroyers of France
1928 ships
Maritime incidents in November 1942
World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean