French minesweeper Surprise

History
France
Name:	Surprise
Builder:	Arsenal de Lorient[1]
Launched:	17 June 1939[1]
Out of service:	8 November 1942[1]
Fate:	Sunk by gunfire[1]
General characteristics
Type:	Chamois-class aviso
Displacement:	647 tonnes (637 long tons) standard[2] 900 tonnes (886 long tons) full[2]
Length:	78.30 m (256 ft 11 in) o/a[2] 73.81 m (242 ft 2 in) p/p[2]
Beam:	8.70 m (28 ft 7 in)[2]
Draught:	3.28 m (10 ft 9 in)[2]
Propulsion:	2 × Sulzer diesel engines, 4,600 hp (3,430 kW), 2 shafts[2]
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)[2]
Range:	10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) 5,200 nautical miles (9,600 km; 6,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)[3] Fuel capacity: 105 tonnes[3]
Complement:	88 in peacetime;[3] 104 or 106 at war[3]
Armament:	2 × 100 mm (3.9 in) anti-aircraft (AA) guns 8 × 13.2 mm AA machine guns (1 × quadruple mounting & 2 × double mounting) 2 × anti-submarine mortars 1 × rack for 40 depth charges[3]

Surprise (or La Surprise) was a World War II French Navy Chamois-class aviso. Arsenal de Lorient in Brittany launched her on 17 June 1939.^[1] and she was commissioned in March 1940.

On 8 November 1942 the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Brilliant (H84) sank Surprise by gunfire off Oran^[1] during Operation Torch, the joint UK – American invasion of French North Africa.

Notes

1. Le Masson 1969, p. 22.
2. Le Masson 1969, p. 16.
3. Le Masson 1969, p. 17.

Sources

• Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy. Navies of the Second World War 2. London: MacDonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. ISBN 9780356023847.

External links

• "Surprise". uboat.net.