French destroyer Maillé Brézé (1931)
 A sister-ship of the Maillé Brézé
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Maillé Brézé |
| Namesake | Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, Duc de Fronsac |
| Ordered | 1 February 1930 |
| Builder | Ateliers et Chantiers de Saint-Nazaire Penhoët, Saint-Nazaire |
| Laid down | 9 October 1930 |
| Launched | 9 November 1931 |
| Completed | 6 April 1933 |
| Commissioned | 31 December 1932 |
| In service | 23 April 1933 |
| Fate | Lost by accidental explosion, 30 April 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Template:Sclass- |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 129.3 m (424 ft 3 in) |
| Beam | 11.8 m (38 ft 9 in) |
| Draft | 4.97 m (16 ft 4 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbines |
| Speed | 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) |
| Range | 3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Crew | 12 officers, 224 crewmen (wartime) |
| Armament |
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Maillé Brézé was one of six Template:Sclass-s (contre-torpilleurs) built for the French Navy during the 1930s. She was lost in an accidental explosion during World War II.
Design and description
The Vauquelin-class ships were designed as improved versions of the preceding Template:Sclass-s. They had an overall length of 129.3 meters (424 ft 3 in), a beam of 11.8 meters (38 ft 9 in),[1] and a draft of 4.97 meters (16 ft 4 in). The ships displaced 2,441 metric tons (2,402 long tons) at standard[2] and 3,120 metric tons (3,070 long tons) at deep load. They were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four du Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 64,000 metric horsepower (47,000 kW; 63,000 shp), which would propel the ships at 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). During her sea trials on 5 October 1932, Maillé Brézé's turbines provided 69,362 PS (51,016 kW; 68,413 shp) and she reached 40.3 knots (74.6 km/h; 46.4 mph) for a single hour. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). Their crew consisted of 10 officers and 201 crewmen in peacetime and 12 officers and 220 enlisted men in wartime.[3]
The main armament of the Vauquelin-class ships consisted of five 138.6-millimeter (5.5 in) Modèle 1927 guns in single shielded mounts, one superfiring pair fore and aft of the superstructure and the fifth gun abaft the aft funnel. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of four 138.6-millimeter (5.5 in) Modèle 1927 guns in single mounts positioned amidships and two twin mounts for 13.2-millimeter (0.52 in) Modèle 1929 anti-aircraft machineguns on the forecastle deck abreast the bridge. The ships carried two above-water twin mounts for 550-millimeter (21.7 in) torpedo tubes, one pair on each broadside between funnels as well as one triple mount aft of the rear pair of funnels. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of sixteen 200-kilogram (440 lb) depth charges, with eight more in reserve. They were also fitted with a pair of depth-charge throwers, one on each broadside abreast the aft funnels, for which they carried a dozen 100-kilogram (220 lb) depth charges. The ships could be fitted with rails to drop 40 Breguet B4 530-kilogram (1,170 lb) mines.[4]
Construction and career
Maillé Brézé, named after Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, was ordered on 1 February 1930 from Ateliers et Chantiers de Saint-Nazaire Penhoët as part of the 1929 Naval Program. She was laid down at their Saint-Nazaire shipyard on 9 October 1930, launched on 9 November 1931, commissioned on 31 December 1932 and entered service on 6 April 1933. Her entry into service was delayed for several months by a problems with one of her turbines and she wrapped a chain around her propeller during her sea trials.[5]
On 30 April 1940, at 14:15, as Maillé Brézé was anchored at the Tail of the Bank, Firth of Clyde off Greenock, a torpedo tube misfunctioned and launched an armed torpedo on the deck, setting fire to the fuel tanks and the forward magazine, which however did not explode.[6]
At 15:15, the crew abandoned ship due to the danger of explosion, except for numerous sailors trapped in the mess hall. Around 16:30, a few sailors returned to the ship to flood the aft magazine, and by 19:30 the fire was controlled by the Greenock firemen. By that time, Maillé Brézé was so low in the water that she began sinking before she could be towed, and she went down with those still trapped in the forward part. The accident killed 25 and wounded 48.[7]
She was raised in 1954 and broken up by 1956.[8] The wreck currently visible opposite Greenock (and thus not to be confused with the Maillé Brézé) is that of the MV Captayannis which sank in 1974.
Memories and memorials
Greenockian May Watson recalled in an interview sixty years after the event that she clearly remembered being in an art class at school at the time, and "we just heard this tremendous bang and we all wondered what it was. It was a bang that we had never heard before, really dreadful. We were excited and afraid at the same time wondering what this big bang was". When she went home, she was told that "Some of the sailors were killed and managed to swim to safety but even those sailors were badly injured in the blast. The sailors were brought ashore and were taken to halls in Greenock. A lot of the ladies in the town went along to the halls and helped to bathe their wounds until they could be taken to hospital — the old Greenock Royal Infirmary in Duncan Street."[9]
She said that the "dead were buried in Greenock cemetery until 1946 when the bodies were returned to France. There was a service for those who had died in St. Mary’s church." Her recollection was that the Free French Memorial, Greenock, was erected on Lyle Hill in memory of the dead of the Maillé Brézé.[9] This remained a common belief in the Inverclyde area, but is incorrect as the sinking occurred a few months before the Free French Naval Forces came into being, and there is no mention of the ship or its sailors on the monument.[10]
There is a somewhat more modest memorial to the lost crew of the Maillé Brézé at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, England.[11]
Notes
- ^ Jordan & Moulin, p. 112
- ^ Chesneau, p. 268
- ^ Jordan & Moulin, pp. 112, 116
- ^ Jordan & Moulin, pp. 112, 120
- ^ Jordan & Moulin, pp. 109–110
- ^ "Maillé Brézé, Firth of Clyde". Retrieved 16 December 2016.
- ^ U-Boat.net
- ^ Buxton, Ian (1992). "Question 6/89". Warship International. XXIX (1). Toledo, OH: International Naval Research Organization: 101. ISSN 0043-0374.
- ^ a b Greenock War Detectives project (15 October 2014). "WW2 People's War - Free French Navy in Inverclyde". BBC Scotland. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Robert Jeffrey (November 6, 2014). Scotland's Cruel Sea: Heroism and Disaster off the Scottish Coast. Black & White Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-84502-887-9.
- ^ French Destroyer Maille Breze - Memorial
References
- Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Jordan, John; Moulin, Jean (2015). French Destroyers: Torpilleurs d'Escadre & Contre-Torpilleurs 1922–1956. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-198-4.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|lastauthoramp=ignored (|name-list-style=suggested) (help) - Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
External links
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in April 1940 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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