French World War I destroyers - reboot

[maomatic]

Excellent work, as always!

[youboat]

Love your work. I had considerable difficulty getting the RN's early destroyers to look any good at all.

Fred

[Hood]

Excellent work, this is a fantastic series.

[Garlicdesign]

Hello again!

Thanks everyone again! Now presenting the Aventurier-Class, a series of four destroyers originally ordered by Argentina in 1910. They were to be fitted with US furnished machinery and weapons (four 102mm guns on the centreline and six 457mm torpedo tubes in two single and two twin mounts arranged en echelon on the beams). The first ship was ready for trials in 1912 and reportedly made 34 knots on 28.000hp, more than a third above her designed hp. For reasons undisclosed on the web (at least in any language I am proficient in) they were not delivered to Argentina and were still in France when the first world war started; my guess would be the Argentines did not pay regularly.



When the first world war started, the four ships were complete and immediately seized by the french navy. They were renamed Aventurier, Intrepide, Temeraire and Opiniatre. As no ammunition could be obtained from the USA at this early stage of the war, armament was changed to four french 100mm guns and four single 450mm TTs. At that time, they were only good for 27 to 28 knots; again, the reason remains unclear (probably their trials were performed unarmed, leading to exaggerated results, and their US-pattern machinery was not properly maintained and lacked spare parts).



During the war, at least Temeraire received a lenghtened forward funnel. All replaced the aft searchlight with a 47mm flak and received two 8mm MGs.



By 1916, the boilers of Temeraire and Opiniatre were leaking, very probably due to inept maintenance. They were reboilered with units originally earmarked for battleships and the unfinished destroyer Enseigne Gabolde; the refit included mounting two thin funnels aft where previously there had only been one. The conversion resulted in engine power dropping to 12.000 hp and speed to 22 knots; as fleet destroyers, both were useless from then on. They were fitted with a DC rack and used as escorts.



In 1926/7, all four ships were rebuilt again. The weapons array was rearranged, the previously single TT's were placed on twin mounts and installed side-by-side aft, and new boilers from captured German destroyers were installed. Only two funnels were provided, and the aft searchlight was mounted again. Speed was still poor; they were good for no more than 26 knots.



In 1927, all four were converted to fast minesweepers (fast being an euphemism based on comparision with other minesweepers). Being not very satisfactory in this role, they were soon scrapped. I know how the French Navy must have felt about them. I drive an Opel/Vauxhall.

Greetings
GD

[wb21]

Nicely done Garlic.

[Jackie Treehorn]

Great, impressive and magnificent.

[karlik]

Superb!

[eswube]

Excellent addition to an excellent thread!

[Garlicdesign]

Hello again!

Made in Japan - the Arabe-class

With their own shipyards either busy with repairs and building escorts, occupied or deserted (all workers drafted), the French had to order destroyers abroad during the first world war. The Japanese built 12 units of the Arabe-class (named for peoples or tribes under french colonial rule) within five months and delivered them in 1917. They were simple, somewhat primitive (VTE-engines!) but obviously reliable. The main problem was the lack of spares and ammunition for their japanese pattern artillery (1x 120mm, 4x76mm).

This ugly customer wraps the French WW1-era destroyer thread; apart from some minor modifications, I hope I have every distinctive variant of every french destroyer class prior to 1918 included.

Next: SMS Bayern, and then some AU ships...

Greetings
GD

[Charybdis]

Marvellous work!