Norway 1940:
French Super Destroyers:
The Vauquelin Class
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
September 2023

The Marine Nationale initially intended to follow the Aigle class of contre-torpilleurs with six repeat boats, but as the Great Depression fell on the United States and parts of Europe, the French parliament balked at what had been rubber-stamp approval since 1924. The 1928 and 1929 naval budgets would each be set back a year.

The gave the architects of the Service Technique des Constructions Navale (STCN) the opportunity to re-consider the design, and the sea service a chance to re-think the boats’ mission. New requirements called for wing-mounted torpedo tubes, even at the cost of a smaller torpedo broadside, to give a wider angle of launch seen as more useful in a surprise, short-range engagement. And with the Marine Nationale deciding not to build any more dedicated minelaying cruisers, the boats should also be capable of serving as high-speed minelayers.

Despite the building pause, the STCN chose not to use super-heated steam until the testbed boats, Épervier and Milan of the previous class, had actually entered service and undergone trials and testing. The hull would be very similar to Aigle, but incorporate a new stern form to accommodate minelaying, known as the cul-de-poule (“Chicken Ass”). Between the Chicken Ass, an extra torpedo tube and the minelaying capability, displacement increased to 2,600 tons. Extensive use of welding and duralumin deckhouses kept it from growing even more.

Though the Marine Nationale cited the greater excess capacity of private dockyards compared to the two naval yards that had built a pair of boats in each class, it appears that the parliament insisted on letting all six contracts to private firms in anticipation of the unemployment troubles to come as the Depression reached France. Unlike previous contre-torpilleurs, all six of these boats would be named for French naval heroes.

Chevalier Paul, seen in 1934.

Main armament for this new Vauquelin class would be identical to Aigle, with five 138.6mm Model 1927 guns in single mounts. These still lacked the elevation to engage aircraft, and the boats relied on four 37mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft guns, though the 8mm machine guns of earlier boats gave way to the somewhat more effective 13.2mm twin-mounted anti-aircraft machine gun. In place of the forward triple torpedo mount, they received a pair of twin mounts, one on either beam. That caused some re-shuffling of the deckhouses and boats to make room. They carried the same Model 23DT 550mm alcohol-fueled torpedo as the previous class.

All six boats exceeded their designed speed of 36 knots on trials, with two of them touching 40 knots.  They entered service in 1933 and 1934, and following previous practice three of the boats went to the Atlantic and three to the Mediterranean. Upon the declaration of war in September 1939 all six of the class concentrated in the Mediterranean; soon afterwards they split again with three boats in each main theater.

Vauquelin escorted a few convoys, and was at Toulon in southern France when the Armistice ended fighting for the French fleet. Afterwards, she formed part of the active fleet allowed by the German-Italian Armistice Commission. In response to the British invasion of French-ruled Syria in June 1941, Vauquelin steamed across the Mediterranean carrying ammunition for the small flotilla stationed there. She reached Beirut despite British air attacks, and then went to Thessaloniki in Greece to collect troop reinforcements sent from France by rail. Spotted by British aircraft, she turned back for Toulon. She formed part of the escort that shepherded the damaged battle cruiser Dunkerque back home from Mers-el-Kebir in French Algeria in February 1942. That November, her crew scuttled her rather than turn her over to the Germans. She was not salvaged, and would be scrapped instead in 1951.

Vauquelin and Tartu, seen in 1935.

Kersaint escorted convoys in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, including shipments of aircraft from the United States. She developed a problem with one propellor shaft that limited her speed to 20 knots, and was at Mers-el-Kebir in Algeria when the British attacked the French fleet there. After repairs she joined the active force in June 19412 and escorted Dunkerque home in February 1942. When the Germans attempted to seize the French fleet in November 1942 her crew sent her to the bottom of the harbor. No efforts were made to salvage the wreck and she would be broken up on the spot in 1950.

Cassard began the war escorting convoys and hunting for German commerce raiders in the Atlantic. Returning to the Mediterranean in April 1940, she participated in the June 1940 bombardments of the Italian coast, fending off an attack by a pair of Italian motor torpedo boats. After the Armistice with Germany she formed part of the active fleet, and was scuttled in Toulon in November 1942 with her sisters. The Italians made minimal efforts to raise Cassard, but abandoned the work and like Kersaint would be broken up in 1950.

Tartu saw action in the North Atlantic, escorting the big troop convoy to Narvik in April 1940, protecting Allied shipping and seeking to intercept the German invasion convoys off Norway. She returned to Toulon in southern France a month later, bombarded Italian targets in June, and went into reserve in Toulon following the French armistice later that month. She re-joined the active fleet in November 1940, helped escort Dunkerque in February 1942, and was scuttled by her crew in November 1942. Italian salvage attempts made little progress, and Tartu was broken up in 1956.

Vauquelin and Kersaint, seen at Toulon in late 1942 after their scuttling.

Maillé-Brézé started the war in the Mediterranean, but soon moved into the Atlantic for a very active series of escort missions for convoys bringing troops from West Africa, aircraft from the United States and gold bars from France to Canada. She covered the French troop convoy to Narvik in April and operated off Norway afterwards, depth-charging the German submarine U-46 on 19 April. On the 30th she was in port at Greenock, Scotland when a live torpedo accidentally launched from the amidships tubes, struck the forward deckhouse and exploded. The blast set off fires in the fuel tanks and forward magazine, though these did not explode, and trapped 31 sailors on the mess deck. Sailors from nearby French and British warships, and civilian firefighters from the town, rushed to battle the flames but could not extinguish them. When efforts to tow the ship away from the pier failed, the seacocks were opened and the ship settled in shallow water; all 31 men on the mess deck and six others were killed and 47 wounded. The wreck was raised and broken up in 1954, due to fears over the destroyer’s load of ammunition and fuel exploding or leaking.

Chevalier Paul also operated off Norway, escorting two large French troop convoys in April 1940 and seeking German forces. She returned to the Mediterranean in late May and bombarded the Italian coast in early June, then lay inactive at Toulon following the armistice with Germany. In November 1940 she joined the active fleet, and in June 1941 set out on a mission to bring ammunition to the French ships battling the British invasion of Syria, then a French colony. She was torpedoed by Royal Navy Swordfish biplane bombers off the Syrian coast and sank there with the loss of seven men.

Tartu, Maillé-Brézé, and Chevalier Paul appear in Second World War at Sea: Norway 1940, and their sisters in Second World War at Sea: The Middle Sea.

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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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