The Chacal class was a class of six large destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) in the French Navy . Together with the lighter and slower destroyers of the Bourrasque class, the ships were part of a modernization program of the French Navy after the First World War . The six ships were built between 1922 and 1927. Five class destroyers were sunk in World War II . The warships were named after land predators.
Most of the time, ship classes are named after the ship that is launched first or, less often, after the ship that is first put into service. The first ship of the class to be launched was the Jaguar . The first ship of the class to be put into service was the Tigre . In almost all documents and sources on this class, however, it is called the Chacal class. Only in a few cases is the class referred to as the Jaguar class or the Tigre class.
The Chacal was sunk by German planes on May 24, 1940 off Boulogne-sur-Mer . The wreck lies in only two meters depth in position 50 ° 47 '58 " N , 1 ° 35' 44" O .
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The Léopard was captured by the Royal Navy on July 3, 1940 in Portsmouth as part of Operation Grasp and handed over to the Free French Navy on August 31, 1940 . The warship ran aground on May 27, 1943 north of Benghazi . The wreck was destroyed on June 19, 1943.
The Lynx was after the German invasion in southern France (so-called Free Zone scuttled) on 27 November 1942 together with the remains of the Vichy French navy to help prevent a German access. The wreck was lifted and scrapped by the Germans on January 22nd, 1944.
The Jaguar was torpedoed and sunk on May 23, 1940 by the German torpedo boats S 21 and S 23 . 13 sailors were killed and 23 wounded. The wreck lies in eight meters deep at position 51 ° 3 '26 " N , 2 ° 22' 12" O .
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The Tigre was self-sunk in Toulon on November 27th. The Italian Navy lifted the wreck and repaired it. After the capitulation of Italy , the destroyer was handed over to the Free French Navy on October 28, 1943. The Tigre was decommissioned on January 4, 1954.
literature
MJ Whitley: Destroyer in World War II . 2nd Edition. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01426-2
Roger Chesneau: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946 . Conway Maritime Press, 2010, ISBN 0-85177-146-7 .
John Jordan, Jean Moulin: French Destroyers: Torpilleurs d'Escadre & Contre-Torpilleurs 1922–1956 . Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley ISBN 978-1-84832-198-4 .