The French destroyer ''Frondeur'' was one of 14 s built for the
French Navy during the 1920s.
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
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of , and a
draft of . The ships displaced at standard load and at
deep load. ''Fougueux'' was powered by two
Zoelly-
Schneider
Schneider may refer to:
Hospital
* Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel
People
* Schneider (surname)
Companies and organizations
* G. Schneider & Sohn, a Bavarian brewery company
* Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, the former owner of th ...
geared
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, each driving one
propeller shaft using steam provided by three
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, an ...
s. The turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ships at . The ships carried of
fuel oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
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
Superfiring armament is a naval military building technique in which two (or more) turrets are located in a line, one behind the other, with the second turret located above ("super") the one in front so that the second turret can fire over the ...
pair each fore and aft of the
superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
. Their
anti-aircraft
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, ...
armament consisted of a pair of
Canon de mm Modèle 1925 guns, one mount on each
broadside
Broadside or broadsides may refer to:
Naval
* Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare
Printing and literature
* Broadside (comic ...
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 gun
The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge became the standard machine gun of the French Army during the latter half of World War I. It was manufactured by the French arms company Hotchkiss et Cie, which had been es ...
s abreast the
bridge. The ships carried two above-water triple sets of
torpedo tubes. A pair of
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of sixteen depth charges. In addition two
Thornycroft
Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977.
History
In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its firs ...
depth-charge throwers were fitted at the end of the
forecastle for which six depth charges were carried.
Construction and career
''Frondeur'' was
laid down on 9 November 1927,
launched on 20 June 1929 and completed on 20 October 1931.
After
France surrendered to
Germany in June 1940 during
World War II, ''Frondeur'' served with the naval force of
Vichy France. She was at
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 ...
,
French Morocco
The French protectorate in Morocco (french: Protectorat français au Maroc; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في المغرب), also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco between 1912 to 1956. The prote ...
, when
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
forces invaded
French North Africa in
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 ...
in November 1942. Resisting the invasion, she was sunk by gunfire from the American cruiser
USS ''Brooklyn'' off Casablanca during the
Naval Battle of Casablanca.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Frondeur (1929)
L'Adroit-class destroyers
World War II destroyers of France
1929 ships
Maritime incidents in November 1942
World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean