French Destroyer Le Triomphant

''Le Triomphant'' ("The triumphant one") was one of six large destroyers (, "Torpedo-boat destroyer") built for the (French Navy) during the 1930s. The ship entered service in 1935 and participated in the Second World War. When war was declared in September 1939, all of the ''Le Fantasque''s were assigned to the which was tasked to hunt down German commerce raiders and blockade runners. ''Le Triomphant'' and two of her sister ships were based in Dakar, French West Africa, to patrol the Central Atlantic for several months in late 1939. They returned to Metropolitan France before the end of the year and were transferred to French Algeria in late April 1940 in case Italy decided to enter the war. ''Le Triomphant'' played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign in late April and was under repair when the Germans invaded France in May. She sailed to Britain to avoid capture in June.

The ship was seized by the British in early July and was transferred to the Free French in August. After a refit, ''Le Triomphant'' began escorting convoys before the end of 1940 and was transferred to the Pacific Ocean in mid-1941. Later that year, she received orders to return to the Mediterranean in December, but they were cancelled when the Pacific War began on 8 December. Aside from a refit that lasted 10 months, the ship was on convoy escort duties until late 1943. Ordered again to return to the Mediterranean, ''Le Triomphant'' was badly damaged by a typhoon in the Indian Ocean and had to be sent to the United States for permanent repairs and modernization that lasted until mid-1945.

The ship was sent to French Indochina after the Japanese surrender in September to provide support for the French forces there. After returning to Metropolitan France in mid-1946, she was intermittently active until late 1949. ''Le Triomphant'' was placed in reserve at that time and was sold for scrap in 1957.

Design and description

The ''Le Fantasque''-class ships were designed to counter the fast Italian light cruisers and one member of the class, , set a world record for a ship with a conventional hull that was in excess of . They had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of . The ships displaced at standard and at deep load. ''Le Triomphant'' was powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ship at . During her sea trials on 26 November 1935, her turbines provided and she reached for a single hour. The Parsons turbines were more economical than the Rateau-Bretagne turbines which gave those ships equipped with them a range of versus at . The crew of the ''Le Fantasque'' class consisted of 11 officers and 221 crewmen in peacetime and the number of the latter increased to 254 in wartime.

The main armament of the ''Le Fantasque''s consisted of five Canon de Modèle 1929 guns in single mounts, one superfiring pair fore and aft of the superstructure and the fifth gun abaft the aft funnel. Their anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of two Canon de Modèle 1925 guns in single mounts positioned amidships and four Hotchkiss Mitrailleuse de CA Modèle 1929 in two twin-gun mounts aft of the 37 mm mounts. The ships carried three above-water triple sets of torpedo tubes; the aft mount could traverse to both sides, but the forward mounts were positioned one on each broadside. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of sixteen depth charges with another dozen available in the torpedo magazine. They could also be fitted with rails capable of handling 40 naval mines.

Modifications

In April 1939, the bridge wings were enlarged to accommodate the Hotchkiss machine guns on ''Le Triomphant'', and . After the war began, 200 kg depth-charge stowage increased to 48 and a pair of rails were installed on the stern for depth charges. Each rail could accommodate 3 depth charges and 15 more were stored in the magazine. In early 1940 twin-gun 37 mm mounts replaced the single-gun mounts. Under Free French control as of 3 July, ''Le Triomphant'' was refitted in late 1940 during which she had her aft superfiring 138.6 mm gun replaced by a British 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V AA gun and a Type 128 ASDIC system that had been taken from a seized French destroyer was installed. The 35 kg depth charges and their rails were removed and the ship was fitted with four Modèle 1918 depth-charge throwers abreast the aft superstructure for depth charges. Two of these were stowed next to each mount and eighteen more were stowed in the magazine.

During a subsequent refit in mid-1941, the Hotchkiss machine guns were relocated to positions on the forecastle deck and their former positions were occupied by single mounts for 2-pounder () Mk II AA guns. A quadruple mount for Hotchkiss machine guns taken from the battleship was installed atop the aft superstructure and rails for 18 British Mk VIIH depth charges were installed on the stern. A fixed antenna for a Type 286M search radar was also installed. A late 1942 refit in Australia exchanged the 13.2 mm machine guns for six Oerlikon light AA guns and the Type 286M radar was replaced by a Type 290 system with a rotating antenna.

En route to the Boston Navy Yard in 1944 for a comprehensive refit, ''Le Triomphant'' stopped in Bizerte, French Tunisia, where the British Mk V AA gun was replaced by a 138.6 mm gun from ''L'Audacieux''. The Americans installed SA early-warning, SF surface-search and a British Type 285 fire-control radar, removed her aft torpedo tubes to save weight and converted some boiler feedwater tanks to fuel oil to improve her range. Her AA armament had been removed earlier and now consisted of six Bofors guns in a twin-gun mount superfiring over the aft 138.6 mm guns, and two other twin mounts forward of the aft funnel; she now carried eleven Oerlikon guns in single mounts, four on the sides of the bridge and the remaining guns on platforms on the aft superstructure, on the quarterdeck, and where the aft torpedo mount had been.

Construction and career

Ordered on 22 May 1931 as part of the 1930 Naval Program, ''Le Triomphant'' was laid down on 28 August 1931 by Ateliers et Chantiers de France at their shipyard in Dunkerque

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