Force de Raid:
French Super Destroyers:
The Guépard Class
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
September 2023

France’s Marine Nationale waited a few years before ordering their second class of contre-torpilleurs, the “destroyers of destroyers.” The Jaguar class had not yet entered service when the Service Technique des Constructions Navale (STCN) completed the design for the Guépard (“Cheetah”) class. Three boats (Guépard, Bison and Lion) were authorized in the 1925 program, and three more (Valmy, Verdun, Vauban) for 1926.

Concerns about Jaguar’s stability would be confirmed after that class entered service, but the architects already anticipated problems and addressed them by widening the beam. As a result of that, the new boats would be larger, at 2,400 tons and 128.5 meters long, compared to 2,100 tons and 117.9 meters for Jaguar. A bigger boat meant a bigger power plant, and Guépard would have to pump out 66,000 horsepower, compared to 50,000 for Jaguar, to maintain her designed speed of 35.5 knots.

The designers also imported the internal arrangements of the then-new Duquesne-class heavy cruisers, arranging the boiler and machine rooms in two divided sets (one pair to drive each shaft) for four compartments total, with boiler and engine room alternating so that a single torpedo hit would be less likely to immobilize the boat. Each of the four boilers had its own smokestack, giving the boats an odd appearance with two pairs of thin funnels (French sailors called them les quatre-tuyaux, or “the four-pipers”). Though this class had a new hull design, the boats also had twelve watertight compartments and a double bottom to somewhat mitigate the total lack of armor.

All six met or exceeded their design speed on trials, over an extended period at full displacement. At light displacement and with forced machinery, Bison actually touched 40 knots. They failed to make their designed range, however, and all six were notoriously short-legged.

The new class carried five new Model 1923 138.6mm guns in single mounts; this represented a reduction from Jaguar, made necessary to control topweight. The new gun replaced the failed 130mm Model 1919 of the Jaguar class, but proved no better, with serious difficulties in loading the guns and thus rate of fire. They also carried four 37mm Model 1925 anti-aircraft guns and two twin 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns.

Super-destroyer Bison at anchor.

Like Jaguar, they had two triple torpedo mounts, but had a more powerful new-model torpedo. They still had no reloads; the French Navy believed it dangerous for a small ship’s crew to attempt to manhandle a torpedo in anything but the calmest of seas (those fears would come true in 1940). They had the same anti-submarine weapons suite as Jaguar, and likewise lacked modern detection apparatus. The first set of three boats took four years to complete, and the next three boats needed five as the Great Depression slowed construction.

Guépard began the war in the Mediterranean with the 3rd DCT, and participated in a single bombardment of the Italian coast before France sought an Armistice with the Germans. She underwent some modifications, trading one set of torpedo tubes for more light anti-aircraft guns. The Vichy government sent her out to French Syria, where she saw much more action against the British in June 1941. She went to Toulon before the colony fell, and was scuttled there in November 1942 along with most of the French fleet. The Italians raised her but did not repair work; American bombers sank her for good in March 1944 and the wreck was scrapped after the war.

Lion joined Guépard in the June 1940 bombardments of the Italian coast, then spent the next two years in Toulon, where her crew scuttled her in November 1942. The Italians raised and repaired her, commissioning her as FR21, and her Italian crew scuttled her a second time in September 1943. This time she remained scuttled, and the wreck would be broken up after the war.

Bison, the only member of the class to receive modern British ASDIC submarine detection gear, saw action off Norway in the spring of 1940. On 3 May, while evacuating British soldiers from Tromso, she was hit by a bomb from a German Stuka dive-bomber which detonated her forward magazine. One hundred three of her 230 crew were killed in the explosion and sinking, with the survivors picked up by the British destroyer Afridi. Afridi in turn was hit by two bombs from Stukas, capsized and sank, taking 33 more of Bison’s crew with her.

After brief service in the Atlantic at the start of World War II, Valmy returned to Toulon to join the 3rd DCT with Guépard and Verdun. She bombarded Italy, then remained in Toulon for a time to receive the same modifications as Guépard. Afterwards she went to Beirut with Guépard, and fought several actions with British destroyers off the Syrian/Lebanese coast before returning to her base at Toulon. Scuttled with the French fleet in November 1942, she was raised by the Italians and commissioned as FR24. Refitting had not been completed when Italy surrendered in September 1943, and she was seized by the Germans and towed to Genoa, where the Germans in turn scuttled her in April 1945. The wreck would be scrapped after the war.

Super-destroyer Guépard at anchor.

Verdun participated in the bombardments of the Italian coastline with the rest of 3rd DCT, but had not completed her refit when her sisters deployed to Beirut. She lay in Toulon until November 1942 when she was scuttled, but apparently no attempt was ever made to raise her. She would be scrapped after the war.

Vauban, part of the 1st DCT, likewise operated out of Toulon and helped shell the Italian coast, returning to Toulon for the next two years. In November 1942 she was scuttled by her crew, and no attempt was made to recover her. She was finally scrapped in 1947.

The Guépard class represented a significant improvement over Jaguar, with their bigger hull allowing for greater stability, as intended. And the boats reportedly shot well, just not very quickly. While better sea-boats than Jaguar, they still rolled quite a lot and were difficult to handle in a heavy sea or at speed. Their relatively high silhouette caught the wind at low speed, and of course made them easier for an enemy to spot than was desirable for a vessel depending on its torpedoes.

Guépard appears in Second World War at Sea: Bismarck, but doesn’t get a lot of use; she sees a great deal of action in the Campaign Study, Bismarck: Force de Raid.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published a great many books, games and articles on historical subjects; people are saying that some of them are actually good. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife and three children. He will never forget his Iron Dog, Leopold.

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