French aviso D'Entrecasteaux (1931)

D'Entrecasteaux was an Bougainville-class aviso of the French Navy launched in 1931. The ship was designed to operate from French colonies in Asia and Africa. She was posted at Madagascar, under Vichy French control during World War II.

For other ships with the same name, see French ship D'Entrecasteaux.
D'Entrecasteaux
Model of D'Entrecasteaux at Musée de la Marine de Paris
History
France
Name: D'Entrecasteaux
Namesake: Bruni d'Entrecasteaux
Ordered: 1927 Naval Estimates
Builder: FC de la Gironde, Lormont
Laid down: 25 November 1929
Launched: 22 June 1931
In service: 15 February 1933
General characteristics
Type: Bougainville-class aviso
Displacement:
Length: 103.7 m (340 ft 3 in) (o/a)
Beam: 12.7 m (41 ft 8 in)
Draught: 4.15 m (13 ft 7 in)
Installed power: 2,191 PS (1,611 kW; 2,161 bhp)
Propulsion: 2 shafts; 2 diesel engines
Speed: 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Range: 9,000 nmi (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement:
  • 14 officers and 121 crewmen in peacetime;
  • 166 or 183 men in wartime
Armament:
Armour:
  • Hull: 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in)
  • Deck: 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in)
  • Gun shields: 3 mm (0.1 in)
Aircraft carried: 1 × Gourdou-Leseurre GL-832 HY floatplane

During Operation Ironclad D'Entrecasteaux fought against the entire British Fleet involved in the landing operations for 36 hours, before finally being damaged and beached. While the other French surface ship, the armed merchant cruiser MS Bougainville,[1] was destroyed along with three submarines during the initial attacks, D'Entrecasteaux managed to dodge torpedoes and escape from the harbour at Diego Suarez.

The sloop managed to avoid damage from various bomb and torpedo attacks and continued to fight throughout the day. She escaped destruction because her shallow draft allowed her to see the torpedoes pass by underneath.

The British battleship HMS Ramillies fired a few salvoes at her with no effect. However, on 6 May 1942, she was finally damaged during another Swordfish attack. The ship started to slowly take on water and was beached before she could sink. An officer and 15 sailors were killed during the attacks.

References
  1. "Bougainville (5615035)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 4 August 2014.

Bibliography
  • 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 (2016). "The Colonial Sloops of the Bougainville Class". Warship 2007. London: Conway. pp. 8–29. ISBN 978-1-84486-326-6.
  • Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy. Navies of the Second World War. 2. London: MacDonald & Co. ISBN 0-356-02385-0.
  • 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.


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