Bougainville-class aviso
 Rigault de Genouilly in 1938 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Bougainville class |
| Operators: |
 French Navy |
| Planned: | 10 |
| Completed: | 8 |
| Cancelled: |
|
| Lost: | 5 |
| Retired: | 3 |
| General characteristics (Bougainville) | |
| Type: | Aviso |
| Displacement: | 1,969 tons[1] |
| Length: | 103.70 metres (340.2 ft)[1] |
| Beam: | 12.98 metres (42.6 ft)[1] |
| Draught: | 4.80 metres (15.7 ft)[1] |
| Propulsion: | 2 Diesel engines (Sulzer or Burmeister & Wain), 3,200 shp |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Range: | |
| Complement: |
|
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: | bullet-proof plating of control positions[1] |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 seaplane |
The Bougainville class was a type of colonial aviso or sloop of the French Navy of the 1930s that were designed to operate in remote locations of the French Empire.
Design
The ten ships of the Bougainville class were built from 1931 to 1940 in various French naval yards. The ships were designed to operate autonomously from French colonies in Asia and Africa with a capacity of 297 tons of diesel, giving an endurance distance of 13,000 nautical miles (24,000 km). Their shallow draught allowed them to operate on large rivers, while carrying an infantry company. In this respect they were an improvement over existing gunboats.
Service history
Eight of the Bougainville-class avisos were commissioned, the two remaining ships (Le Beautemps-Beaupré and La Pérouse) were still under construction during the Fall of France. Le Beautemps-Beaupré was scuttled in the Gironde Estuary on 24 June 1940.[1]
The ships of the Bougainville class had varied careers that were typical of French Naval ships of the period and were torn between the Free French Naval Forces and Navy of Vichy France. With the ships of Vichy France being hunted by both the Axis and Allies at different times during the war.
On 9 November 1940 there was a rare case of fratricide between two ships of the same class when Bougainville, lead ship of the class and loyal to the Vichy government, fought her sister ship Savorgnan de Brazza, who served in the FNFL.[2] This battle happened off of Libreville, during the Battle of Gabon. After a short exchange of fire Savorgnan de Brazza had reduced Bougainville to a wreck and forced her to beach to avoid sinking. Bougainville later foundered in March 1941 during a re-floating operation.[3]
Dumont d'Urville and Amiral Charner took part in the Battle of Koh Chang on 17 January 1941.
La Grandière was extensively modernised in 1944. Her anti-aircraft armament was replaced with 40 mm Bofors and 20 mm Oerlikon guns, and new anti-submarine armament of (4 depth charge throwers and 6 depth charge rails, with 66 charges) was installed. She also received two radars and a sonar.
Four ships survived the war and served during the Indochina War and in the Korean War.
Ships
| Ship | Namesake | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bougainville | Louis Antoine de Bougainville | FC de la Gironde | 25 April 1931[1] | Sunk 9 November 1940[1] |
| Amiral Charner | Léonard Charner | AC Maritime de Sud Ouest | 1 October 1932[1] | Scuttled 10 March 1945[1] |
| Dumont d'Urville | Jules Dumont d'Urville | AC Maritime de Sud Ouest | 21 March 1931[1] | Broken up 26 March 1958[1] |
| D'Entrecasteaux | Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux | AC de Provence | 22 June 1931[4] | Broken up 19 October 1948[4] |
| La Grandière (ex-Ville d'Ys)[1] | Pierre-Paul de La Grandière | AC de Provence | 22 June 1939[4] | Broken up 23 November 1959[4] |
| D'Iberville | Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville | AC Maritime de Sud Ouest | 23 September 1934[4] | Scuttled with the Vichy French fleet in Toulon, 27 November 1942[4] |
| Rigault de Genouilly | Charles Rigault de Genouilly | FC de la Gironde | 18 September 1932[4] | Sunk by HMS Pandora, 4 July 1940[4] |
| Savorgnan de Brazza | Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza | AC Maritime de Sud Ouest | 18 June 1931[4] | Broken up 20 March 1957[4] |
| Le Beautemps-Beaupré | Charles-François Beautemps-Beaupré | FC de la Gironde | 24 June 1939[1] | Scuttled 24 June 1940[1] |
| La Pérouse | Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse | FC de la Gironde | incomplete[1] | never completed[1] |
Notes
Sources
- Chesneau, Roger (1980). Conway's All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1922-1946. London: Conway Publishing. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy. Navies of the Second World War 2. London: MacDonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. pp. 12–13. ISBN 9780356023847.
External links
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