Valmy (ship, 1928)

Valmy

Identical bison (ca.1932)

Ship data flag  France Italy German Empire     other ship names FRI 24 Ship type Large Destroyer class Guépard class Shipyard Ateliers et Chantiers de St Nazaire-Penhoët, Saint-Nazaire Keel laying May 5, 1927 Launch May 19, 1928 Commissioning January 1, 1930 Whereabouts 1945 self-sunk

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 drop racks

The Valmy was a major destroyer of Guépard class , which for the French navy was built. The Valmy was sunk three times by her crews during the war. The ship was named after the Valmy cannonade .

Machine system

The Valmy propulsion system 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 Valmy 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. 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 Valmy had six torpedo tubes in two groups of three for the torpedo 23DT, Toulon.

Operations in other navies and triple scuttling

After the defeat of France, the Valmy remained in the service of the navy of the Vichy regime . During the occupation of the rest of France by the Third Reich, the crew sank the ship on November 27, 1942 in Toulon. Italy lifted the ship in 1943 and put it back into service as FR 24 in the Regia Marina . After the capitulation of Italy, the Italian crew sank the Valmy on September 9, 1943 in the port of La Spezia . The Navy lifted the ship and towed it to Genoa . The repairs were not carried out until the end of the war and the ship was sunk in the port as the front approached in 1945.

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 : Guépard class  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information about the Valmy 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.