French Destroyer Ouragan

''Ouragan'' (French: " hurricane") was a (''torpilleur d'escadre'') built for the French Navy during the 1920s. During World War II, the destroyer began the war in service with the French Navy and was undergoing repairs at Brest during the invasion of France. The British Royal Navy towed the destroyer to the United Kingdom and commandeered the vessel following the French surrender in 1940. They transferred ''Ouragan'' to the Polish Navy which kept the destroyer in service for less than a year. In 1941, the Polish Navy transferred the destroyer to the Free French Naval Forces, which in turn, transferred ''Ouragan'' back to the Royal Navy in 1943. ''Ouragan'' saw no further action and was broken up for scrap in 1949.

Design and description

The ''Bourrasque'' class had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of . The ships displaced at ( standard) load and at deep load. They were powered by two 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 ship at . The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at .Jordan & Moulin, p. 41

The main armament of the ''Bourrasque''-class ships consisted of four Canon de Modèle 1919 guns in shielded single mounts, one superfiring pair each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of a single Canon de Modèle 1924 gun. The ships carried two triple mounts of torpedo tubes amidships. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern that housed a total of sixteen depth charges.

Construction and career

During the first year of World War II, ''Ouragan'' served with the 4th Destroyer Division with the destroyers and , based at Brest. At the time of the German invasion of France in 1940, she was undergoing engine repairs at Brest. The Royal Navy towed her to Devonport where the repairs were completed. After the French surrender in June, the British commandeered her on 3 July and she was transferred to the Polish Navy on 17 July 1940. Until 30 April 1941 she sailed under the Polish ensign (using pennant number H16) but as OF ''Ouragan'' (OF - Okręt Francuski - "French ship"), instead of the usual ORP prefix. She was commanded by Lieutenant Commander T. Gorazdowski; most of ''Ouragan''s crew were transferred from , which had been sunk on 4 May 1940, during the Battle of Narvik.

''Ouragan'' participated in operations around the British Isles, during which she suffered storm damage (flooded engine and boiler rooms) and a series of debilitating technical problems, requiring a total of 194 days under repair (compared to 31 days at sea). On 30 April 1941, after 287 days in Polish service, ''Ouragan'' was returned to the Free French Forces, who in turn passed her to the Royal Navy in 1943. She never returned to active operations, was decommissioned on 7 April 1949 and scrapped.

Notes

References

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External links

uboat.com



Polish navy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ouragan
Bourrasque-class destroyers
World War II destroyers of France
World War II destroyers of Poland
Ships built in France
1924 ships
Destroyers of the Free French Naval Forces