Guépard (ship, 1928)
 The Guépard (on an image published in 1942)
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The Guépard was a major destroyer of the French and later (from 1940) the Vichy-French Navy, which was used during the Second World War and which was sunk by its own crew in the port of Toulon in 1942 to allow German troops to take over the ship prevent. The ship was named after the big cat cheetah (French: Guépard). The destroyer , which was laid down in Lorient on March 14, 1927 , belonged to the Guépard class and was at the same time the first and, in this regard, the lead ship of this class consisting of six units. The ship, approved in 1925, was launched on April 19, 1928 and was finally put into service on August 13, 1929.
Technology and modifications
Armament
The main artillery of the Guépard consisted of five 13.86 cm L / 40 guns of the 1923 model in individual installation. This cannon could fire a 40.4 kilogram grenade over a maximum distance of 19,000 m. Although this gun was thus clearly superior to the 12 cm and 12.7 cm destroyer cannons of other nations involved in the Second World War in terms of projectile weight and range, the rate of fire of the 13.86 cm gun was around five to six Shot per minute again very low; For example, the 12.7 cm L / 45 (C / 34) gun used by the German Navy on destroyers of the 1934 class had a rate of fire of 15 to 18 rounds per minute (although the projectile weight was only 27.4 kilograms lag). Even the comparable Japanese 14 cm Type 3 cannon , at least in terms of caliber, achieved a rate of up to ten rounds per minute with a projectile weight of 38 kilograms.
The anti-aircraft armament consisted of four 3.7 cm flak (L / 60) of the 1925 model in individual installation (two cannons each stood on either side of the aft funnel) and four heavy 13.2 mm machine guns . During a stay in the shipyard in 1941, all 3.7 cm anti-aircraft guns were removed and replaced by six 3.7 cm cannons of the more modern 1933 model (L / 50) in three double mounts. In addition, the number of 13.2 mm machine guns was increased from four to six (also in three double mounts).
The torpedo armament consisted of six 55 cm torpedo tubes in two triple tube sets. With a weight of 2,068 kilograms, the torpedo (model 23DT) fired from these tubes was one of the heaviest of the Second World War , only surpassed in terms of weight by the Japanese Type 93 torpedo . The range of the 23DT torpedo was 9,000 m (at 39 knots ) or 13,000 m (at 35 knots). During a stay in the shipyard in 1941, one of the triple barrel sets came off board to make room for additional anti-aircraft cannons.
Machine system
The Guépard propulsion system consisted of four Penhoët boilers and two Parsons turbines that controlled two propeller shafts. According to the planning specifications, the machine should have achieved 64,000 WPS and thus enabled the ship to reach a top speed of 35.5 kn . However, test drives showed that the machine system was far more efficient. At the end of March 1929, the Guépard was able to achieve a top speed of 38.46 kn (about 71 km / h) during an engine test; the drive power was 73,738 WPS. Nevertheless, this record result was not achieved with the full deployment displacement of 3,220 ts, but only with a water displacement of around 2,600 ts. As a result, it can be assumed that the later maximum operating speed was lower and estimated at around 36 to 37 kn, which, however, still exceeded the shipyard's plans.
Working time
1929 to 1939: pre-war years
As part of the test drives, the Guépard left Lorient in mid-September 1929 and visited San Sebastián , Toulon , Bizerta and Taranto between September and the end of November 1929 . Temporarily ordered to the Adriatic between November 29 and December 20, 1929, including Šibenik , Dubrovnik and Kotor , followed in the spring of 1930 on an extensive visit along the west coast of Africa. Here the Guépard ran at, accompanied by the light cruisers La Motte-Picquet and Primauguet as well as two destroyers, Casablanca , Dakar and Conakry . From May 1930, the ship, together with the sister ships Valmy and Verdun , formed the 7th Division (7ème DL, 7ème division légère ) of the destroyer forces stationed in Toulon , which was supplemented by the large destroyer Vauban from April 1931 .
Between the summer of 1931 and the spring of 1934, the Guépard was deployed in the Mediterranean and mainly carried out representation and maneuver missions. The destroyer visited Ajaccio , Alicante , Oran and Thessaloniki , often together with other ships of the 7th Division . From late 1934 the Guépard operated in the eastern Mediterranean, doing maneuvers off Rhodes and Beirut .
After a shipyard overhaul in Toulon in 1935/36, the destroyer was used from August 1936 off the coast of Spain , where the civil war between the government and right-wing putschists had broken out in July , as part of the French contribution to international surveillance of the sea routes there. The Guépard , meanwhile part of the 13th division (13ème DL, 13ème division légère ), patrolled temporarily in front of Barcelona , Valencia and Cartagena , whereby in the spring of 1937 the 13th division to the 3rd division of torpedo boat destroyers (3ème DCT, 3rd division de contre-torpilleurs ) was redeclared. The missions off the Spanish coast ended in January 1939.
In the summer of 1939, the Guépard , together with three cruisers and eight other destroyers, was used for security tasks between Corsica , Sardinia and the Algerian coast. The reason for this was the growing tensions between France and Italy , which annexed Albania in April 1939 .
Second World War
After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Guépard in Toulon , from December 1939 under the command of Capitaine de Vaisseau Raymond Émile Gervais de Lafond , initially remained inactive in the port for almost four months , especially in the context of the so-called seated war . It was not until January 1940 that the French fleet management attempted to use the large destroyers in the North Sea and off the Belgian coast. During the approach, the Guépard and her sister ship Valmy were temporarily assigned to secure the Allied convoy OA-80G. Here the Guépard succeeded on January 30, 1940, together with the Valmy and the British destroyer Whitshed and the Sloop Fowey , about 50 nautical miles southwest of the Isles of Scilly, the sinking of the German submarine U 55 . The submarine was forced to surface by depth charges and eventually sunk by artillery fire. A German submarine driver was killed and 41 seamen were rescued.
The project to deploy the large destroyers in the North Sea ended in failure, however, as two of the ships, including the Guépard , were severely damaged by ground contact near Nieuwpoort and as a result were ordered back to Toulon via Cherbourg and Brest in March and April 1940 .
The repair work lasted until June 1940, with the result that the Guépard was no longer used until the defeat of France and the resulting armistice at Compiègne . The ship lying in the port of Toulon remained in the navy of the Vichy State . Together with the battleship Strasbourg , the heavy cruisers Algérie , Foch and Dupleix , the light cruisers Marseillaise and La Galissonnière as well as eight destroyers, the Guépard formed the Vichy-French deep sea forces stationed in Toulon from September 1940 (FHM, forces de haute mer ). However, between autumn 1940 and spring 1941 this association did not run out of major operations.
1941: Operations off the Syrian coast
It was not until May 1941, when the British-Free French offensive against Syria was beginning , that the Guépard - together with two other destroyers - was involved in its first and only combat mission against surface forces. After the Allied offensive, the destroyer ran repeatedly to the eastern Mediterranean , mostly commuting between Toulon and the ports of Beirut and Tripoli , which are in the Vichy-French-controlled mandate area . During these supply trips, mostly with ammunition, the Guépard , together with her sister ship Valmy , got into combat several times with the British blockade forces on site.
On June 9, 1941, the Guépard and the Valmy met the two British destroyers Janus and Jackal off Beirut . In a short battle, the Janus was hit by five 13.86 cm shells and had to leave the battlefield, severely damaged - including a shell that hit the bridge directly. There were 13 dead and 13 wounded on board the British ship. The Jackal received a hit, but it didn't claim any victims. As more British destroyers approached the battlefield, the two Vichy ships retreated to Beirut. Only the Guépard was slightly damaged by a close hit.
In another skirmish off Beirut on June 22, 1941 with the New Zealand light cruiser Leander and two British destroyers, the Guépard was hit by a 15.2 cm shell from the cruiser, but suffered only minor damage and no personnel losses. In return, the destroyer fired 60 13.86 cm shells and scored a hit on the cruiser, which, however, turned out to be a dud and caused only minor damage.
After the end of the fighting in Syria in early July 1941, the Guépard relocated back to Toulon. No significant operations took place until the ship was destroyed in November 1942.
Fall and Fate
In the context of the German occupation of Vichy France in November 1942, the Wehrmacht also moved into Toulon and tried to bring the Vichy French naval forces there under German control. In order to forestall this intention, the Vichy fleet sank itself. When German units penetrated the port of Toulon on the morning of November 27, 1942, the Guépard was badly damaged by its own crew at 6:10 am by several explosive charges. The large destroyer then capsized to port and sank to the bottom of the harbor, although the chimneys, parts of the superstructure and the masts still protruded from the water, albeit at an angle of about 45 degrees.
The wreck of the Guépard was lifted by Italian mountain specialists in early September 1943 . After Italy surrendered , the ship fell to the Germans, who had little interest in restoring the badly damaged wreck. The makeshift sealed Guépard was finally sunk again on March 11, 1944 during an American air raid on Toulon. The remains of the ship were salvaged from 1947 and scrapped on site.
literature
- Moulin, Jean: Les contre-torpilleurs type Guépard 1928 - 1942 . Marines Editions 2010.
- Whitley, Mike J .: Destroyers in World War II. Technology, classes, types . Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1991.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNFR_55-40_m1923.htm
- ↑ http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_55-50_3ns.htm
- ↑ http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-37J-Janus.htm
- ↑ http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-06CL-Leander.htm
- ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/44-03.htm
Chacal class : Chacal | Jaguar | Leopard | Lynx | Panthère | Tigre
Guépard class : Guépard | Bison | Lion | Vauban | Valmy | Verdun
Aigle class : Aigle | Vautour | Albatross | Ruffled | Milan | Épervier
Vauquelin class : Vauquelin | Kersaint | Cassard | Tartu | Maillé Brézé | Le Chevalier Paul
Le Fantasque Class : Le Fantasque | Le Malin | Le Terrible | L'Indomptable | L'Audacieux | Le Triomphant