French sloop Commandant Dominé

Commandant Dominé (U70/A15/F742) was a French Élan-class minesweeping sloop (Avisos dragueur de mines) that served in World War II.

History
France
Name: Commandant Dominé
Builder: Ateliers et Chantiers Dubigeon, Nantes
Laid down: February 1938
Launched: 2 May 1939
Commissioned: April 1940
Decommissioned: 18 August 1960
Fate: Scrapped, October 1960
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Élan-class minesweeping sloop
Displacement:
Length:
  • 78.3 m (256 ft 11 in) (o/a)[2]
  • 73.81 m (242 ft 2 in) (p/p)[2]
Beam: 8.7 m (28 ft 7 in)[2]
Draught: 3.28 m (10 ft 9 in)[2]
Installed power: 4,600 bhp (3,430 kW)
Propulsion: 2 × shafts; 2 × Sulzer diesel engines[2]
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)[2]
Range: 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement:
  • 88 in peacetime;[3]
  • 104 or 106 during the war[3]
Armament:

Ship history

Commandant Dominé was built by Ateliers et Chantiers Dubigeon in Nantes,[4] laid down in February 1938, launched on 2 May 1939[5] and commissioned in April 1940. She was seized by the British on 3 July 1940 and transferred to the Free French Naval Forces,[1][6] seeing service in the Battle of Dakar ("Operation Menace") in September 1940.

The ship was rearmed by the British in 1941. Her main armament was replaced by twin QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval guns, and she also received a single QF 2-pounder pom-pom[2] AA gun to replace the quadruple 13.2 mm/76 AA guns.[1] She retained her original twin 13.2 mm/76 AA guns, but had an additional four twin and two single 12.7 mm/62 machine guns installed.[2][1]

Post-war she remained in service with the French Navy.[1][6] In 1947 she was rearmed again, with a single German 105 mm/45 calibre SK C/32 gun as main armament, a single Bofors 40 mm/60 Mk.3 and four single 20 mm/70 Mk.2 Oerlikons.[2][1]

Commandant Dominé was decommissioned on 18 August 1960,[1][6] and scrapped in October 1960.[5]

Notes
  1. "Élan class avisos-minesweepers (1939-1940)". navypedia.org. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  2. Le Masson 1969, p. 16.
  3. Le Masson 1969, p. 17.
  4. Le Masson 1969, pp. 17–21.
  5. Le Masson 1969, p. 18.
  6. "Classe: Élan". users.swing.be (in French). Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2010.

Bibliography
  • Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy. Navies of the Second World War. 2. London: MacDonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. pp. 16–22. ISBN 9780356023847.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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