Bison (ship, 1928)

bison

Destroyer Bison (ca.1932)

Ship data flag  France Ship type Large Destroyer class Guépard class Shipyard Arsenal de Lorient Keel laying March 14, 1927 Launch October 29, 1928 Commissioning October 10, 1930 Whereabouts Sunk May 29, 1940

Ship dimensions and crew length 130.2 m ( Lüa ) 123.1 m ( Lpp ) width 11.76 m Draft Max. 4.68 m displacement Standard : 2,436 ts maximum: 3,220 ts   crew 224-236 men

Machine system machine 4 × Penhoët boiler, 2 × Parsons turbine Machine performance 73,738 hp (54,234 kW) Top speed 38.46 kn (71 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 5 × Sk 13.86 cm L / 40 model 1923 (5 × 1) 4 × Flak 3.7 cm L / 60 model 1925 (4 × 1) 6 × torpedo tube ⌀ 55.0 cm (2 × 3) 28 depth charges , 4 launchers, 2 dropping racks

The Bison was a Guépard- class large destroyer of the French Navy . On October 29, 1940, the bison was lost in the evacuation of Allied troops from Namsos , Norway . The French destroyer Le Flibuster was renamed Bison on April 1, 1941 in memory of its sunken predecessor .

Machine system

The drive system of the Bison consisted of four Penhoët boilers and two Parsons turbines . These drove the two screws via two drive shafts. The machines made 73,738 WPS . This enabled a maximum speed of 38.46 kn (about 71 km / h) to be achieved with a displacement of 2,600 ts.

Armament

The main artillery of the Bison consisted of five 13.86 cm L / 40 cannons of the 1923 model in a stand-alone arrangement. This cannon could fire a 40.4 kilogram grenade over a maximum distance of 19,000 m. As anti-aircraft armament, the destroyer had four 3.7 cm anti-aircraft guns (L / 60) of the 1925 model in stand-alone installation when it was commissioned. These were located to the left and right of the aft chimney. As a torpedo armament, the Bison had six torpedo tubes in two groups of three for the torpedo 23DT, Toulon.

Operations in World War II

On April 12, 1940 the bison left under Capitaine de Vaisseau Jean Adolphe Roger Bouan together with the 11th Division de Contre-Torpilleurs Brest . She escorted convoy FP 1 A to Greenock , Scotland . The convoy arrived there on April 14, 1940.

In May 1940, the bison was one of the ships that were supposed to evacuate Allied troops (Maurice Force) from Namsos.

Fall and Fate

During the evacuation of Namsos on May 3, 1940, was Bison from dive bombers of the type Ju 87 attacked. The aircraft belonged to Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 (I./StG 1). A bomb penetrated the foredeck and detonated in the forward ammunition chamber. 136 men of the crew were killed. The bison immediately began to sink over the bow. The destroyer Afridi was able to save 69 castaways from the water and sank the unsaved bison . The other survivors were taken in by the Grenade and the Imperial . On the same day, the Afridi was attacked by dive bombers and sunk. Another 35 crew members of the bison were killed. The survivors were rescued by the Imperial and Griffin .

literature

• Jean Moulin: Les contre-torpilleurs type Guépard 1928–1942 . Marines Éditions 2010, ISBN 2-357-43049-4 .
• Mike J. Whitley: Destroyer in World War II. Technology, classes, types . Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 .
• John Jordan, Jean Moulin: French Destroyers: Torpilleurs d'Escadre & Contre-Torpilleurs 1922–1956 . Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley ISBN 978-1-84832-198-4 .

Web links

Commons : Bison  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Information about the bison at uboat.net (English).

Footnotes

1. ↑ 138.6 mm / 40 (5.46 ") Model 1923 gun data from navweaps.com. Accessed October 22, 2019. (English)
2. ↑ 23 DT, Toulon torpedo data on navweaps.com. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
3. ↑ Sea War May 1940 History of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rohwer on the side of the Württemberg State Library. Retrieved November 5, 2019.