The French 800-ton destroyers - batch 1 (Bouclier-class)
This class exemplifies the French notion of a homogenous class of 12 destroyers. They were the first 'modern' french destroyers, which were reasonably comparable with contemporary foreign ships in terms of size and armament when they were ordered under the 1908 programme, but quite obsolescent when the war started in 1914 (besides, they were pretty much the only ones of their kind in France's destroyer fleet, which was outnumbered 10:1 by the German destroyer force, not to speak of the Royal Navy). The yards were issued only general specifications, and each of the seven yards involved in building these ships drew up its own design in a singularly wasteful design process. The result was a class in which no two ships looked alike. Unlike their rather sturdily built predecessors, these ships were flimsy and fragile; seakeeping was not their long suit. Presenting them in chronological order of launch:
Casque
The first and - in terms of speed and reliability - one of the best of the class. She was also the smallest and differed from all others by having only three funnels and a very pronounced negative sheer forward. Together with Bouclier, she was the only one with triple screws; unlike most of her sisters, her engines were sturdy and reliable. She also was a lucky and successful ship; she is credited with sinking the Austro-Hungarian destroyer Triglav and surviving two collisions with other allied ships.
Like all ships of her class which survived the war, Casque was fitted with depth charges, two 8mm machineguns and an antiair gun. Conway's gives its caliber as either 47mm or 75mm without specifying which ship received which gun; photos of Casque in her post-war configuration seem to indicate the smaller piece, but that is just my interpretation.
Fourche
Nearly four meters longer than Casque, Fourche and her identical sister Faulx were among the longest in the class. They were distinguishable by their unique ventilator arrangement and the placement of the torpedo tubes (the forward one on the port side, the aft one starboard; the other ten had it the other way around). Both were lost in the war; Fourche was sunk by an Austro-Hungarian submarine. Fourche was fitted to carry a kite balloon during the war; her mainmast was removed during this refit.
Faulx
Identical to Fourche when completed. She was lost in a collision with her half-sister Mangini of the second batch of the 800-ton class.
Dague
Dague, Cimeterre and Commandant Rivière were the largest homogenous group inside their class. They were shorter than Faulx and Fourche, but longer than Casque and could be distinguished by their much larger anchor cranes and their very short funnels; they also had an unique shape of their underwater hull with constant draught fore and aft (all others drew slightly more aft). Dague was fitted with an experimental tripod mast in 1914. She was the first of her class that was lost, striking a mine in the Adriatic.
Cimeterre
Shown in her post-war livery, with DC rack, 75mm flak and two 8mm machineguns.
Boutefeu
Together with her identical sister Commandant Bory, Boutefeu was the longest of the class at slightly over 78 meters. They were easily distinguishable from the other ten by their equally spaced funnels. Boutefeu was mined off Brindisi in 1917.
Bouclier
The class ship needed relatively long to complete and was commissioned seventh and last of the units of the 1908 programme (the other five were ordered 1910). Like Casque, she had triple screws and was the fastest of her class. She also had the most austere bridgework and was the smallest in terms of displacement.
When the war was over, Bouclier had received a new, fully enclosed bridge, a DC rack and the usual 8mm and 75mm AA guns.
Dehorter
Very similar to the Capitaine Mehl, Dehorter could be distinguished by her non-raked, relatively high funnels, her higher bridge structure and the unique shape of her ventilators.
Capitaine Mehl
Unlike all the others, Mehl received a solid breastwork for her upper bridge during her modernization. She had more conventionally looking ventilators than her near-twin Dehorter and slightly lower funnels; the forward one received a cap to reduce smoke interference to the bridge. Otherwise, she was modernized like all others.
Commandant Bory
Identical to Boutefeu, Bory was the worst performer of her class; her engines constantly gave trouble and she would not make more than 24kts in service.
Francis Garnier
Apart from the twin-screw propulsion, Francis Garnier resembled Bouclier. According to photographic reference, she does not seem to have received a DC rack during her modernization.
Commandant Riviere
The final ship of the class to enter service, she belonged to the Dague-sub-group.
The next batch of the 800-tonners was rated a class of its own (Bisson-class); they will follow soon.
Greetings
GD
