Léopard (ship, 1924)

Leopard

The Leopard at anchor (June 6, 1942)

Ship data flag  France Free France   Ship type Large Destroyer class Chacal class Shipyard At & Ch de St Nazaire Panhoet, Saint-Nazaire Keel laying August 1, 1923 Launch September 20, 1924 Commissioning October 10, 1927 Whereabouts Stranded on May 27, 1943, destroyed by bad weather on June 19, 1943, declared total loss on May 1, 1943

Ship dimensions and crew length 127 m ( Lüa ) width 11.2 m Draft Max. 3.65 m displacement Standard : 2,126 ts maximum: 3,098 ts   crew 204 men

Machine system machine 5 steam boilers 2 × steam turbines Machine performance 55,000 PS (40,452 kW) Top speed 35.5 kn (66 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 5 × Sk 13.0 cm L / 40 Model 1919 (5 × 1) 2 × Flak 7.5 cm Model 1924 (2 × 1) 4 × MG 13.2 mm / 76 Hotchkiss M1929 (2 × 2) 6 × torpedo tube ⌀ 55.0 cm (2 × 3) 44 depth charges , 6 launchers, 3 drop racks

The Léopard (German: Leopard ) was a large destroyer of the Chacal class for the French Navy . The ship ran aground on May 27, 1943 north of Benghazi . The wreck was destroyed during rescue attempts on June 19, 1943.

Machine system

The Léopard propulsion system consisted of five steam boilers and two steam turbines . These drove the two screws via two drive shafts. The machines performed 55,000 WPS . This enabled a speed of 35.5 kn (about 66 km / h) to be achieved.

Armament

The main artillery of the Léopard consisted of five artillery pieces 13.0 cm L / 40 Model 1919 in single installation. This cannon could fire a 34.85 kilogram grenade over a maximum distance of 18,900 m.

As anti-aircraft armament, the Léopard had four 7.5 mm anti-aircraft guns of the 1924 model in individual installation when it was commissioned. These were located on the left and right amidships. Since the Chacal class top-heavy was, in 1932, both guns were against machine guns of the type mm 13.2 / 76 Hotchkiss M1929 replaced. These were mounted in two twin mounts. For 1939 it was planned to expand the flak with 3.7 cm L / 60 model 1925 guns. This conversion was no longer implemented on the Léopard .

As a torpedo armament, the Léopard had six torpedo tubes in two groups of three for the torpedo Mle 1919D. In addition, the ship had two water bombers at the tail for 20 Guiraud-Mle-1922-200 kg depth charges and amidships left and right two each depth charge launchers for 12-Guiraud Mle-1922-100 kg depth charges. The launchers on the left and right were removed in 1932 due to their unfavorable positioning. The space was supposed to be used for Ginocchio towed torpedoes. The project was discontinued in 1938.

Stakes and whereabouts

At the beginning of the war, the Léopard belonged to the 2nd Great Destroyer Division (French 2ème division de contre-torpeilleurs) (DCT). On September 7, 1939, she was posted to the Marine Command West (French Forces maritimes de l'Ouest). There she was in convoy service mainly between Brest and Gibraltar . From May 22, 1940 she was again subordinate to the DCT. She drove there several missions on the French coast and supported the French land troops with artillery and the Allies in the evacuation of Dunkirk . On July 3, 1940, the Léopard was in Portsmouth when she was boarded and confiscated by a British naval command as part of Operation Grasp . It was handed over to the Navy of the Free French Armed Forces (French Forces françaises libres) on August 31, 1940 by the British . For them, the Léopard drove missions in the Indian Ocean , among other things, they brought troops to La Réunion to depose the Vichy government there. From 1943 she was used in convoid service in the Mediterranean. On May 12, 1943, she escorted a convoy from Malta back to Alexandria . This was attacked by airplanes on May 15, and during the attacks the Leopard ran aground near Benghazi . Attempts to barely seal the ship with cement and dig a canal into deeper waters failed. The weather deteriorated rapidly and on June 19 the ship broke in two. The Léopard was declared a total loss on July 1, 1943.

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 : Léopard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

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

Footnotes

1. ↑ 130 mm / 40 (5.1 ") Model 1919 gun data on navweaps.com. Accessed October 22, 2019. (English)
2. ↑ French torpedoes torpedo data on navweaps.com. Retrieved October 22, 2019.