Ouragan
Class overview
Name	Bourrasque
Operators	French Navy  Free French Naval Forces  Polish Navy  Royal Navy
Preceded by	Enseigne Gabolde
Succeeded by	Adroit class
Completed	12
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer
Displacement	1,298 long tons (1,319 t) (standard) 1,968 long tons (2,000 t) (full load)
Length	106 m (347 ft 9 in)
Beam	9.64 m (31 ft 8 in)
Draught	4.3 m (14 ft 1 in)
Propulsion	3 boilers Geared turbines 31,000 shp (23,117 kW) 2 shafts
Speed	33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range	2,150 nmi (3,980 km; 2,470 mi) at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement	7 officers, 138 men
Armament	4 × 130 mm (5.1 in) guns 2 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns 4 × single 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA guns 2 × triple 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes

The Bourrasque class^[1] was a group of twelve French Navy destroyers (torpilleur) laid down in 1923 and in service from 1926 to 1950. Along with the heavier Chacal class, they were part of a plan to modernise the French fleet after the First World War. The Bourrasques were smaller and slower than the Chacals, but were nonetheless comparable with the British W class. The class saw varied service in the Second World War, in five different navies, on both sides. These ships were named after types of wind.

The design was used as the basis for the two Wicher-class destroyers built for the Polish Navy during the late 1920s.

Design and description

The Bourrasque class had an overall length of 105.6 meters (346 ft 5 in), a beam of 9.7 meters (31 ft 10 in), and a draft of 3.5 meters (11 ft 6 in). The ships displaced 1,320 metric tons (1,300 long tons) at (standard) load and 1,825 metric tons (1,796 long tons) at deep load. They were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three du Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 31,000 metric horsepower (22,800 kW; 30,576 shp), which would propel the ship at 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph). The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).^[2]

The main armament of the Bourrasque-class ships consisted of four Canon de 130 mm (5.1 in) Modèle 1919 guns in shielded single mounts, one superfiring pair each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of a single Canon de 75 mm (3 in) Modèle 1924 gun. The ships carried two triple mounts of 550-millimeter (21.7 in) torpedo tubes amidships. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern that housed a total of sixteen 200-kilogram (440 lb) depth charges.^[2]

Ships

Service

Four ships of the class - Bourrasque, Cyclone, Orage and Sirocco - were lost in 1940; Orage on 23 May, sunk by German bombers; Bourasque by German mines and artillery fire on 30 May while evacuating troops from Dunkirk; Sirocco on 31 May, to German torpedo boats while engaged in the same operation; and Cyclone, having been badly damaged on 30 May by torpedo boats was scuttled at Brest on 18 June to prevent her capture.

Mistral and Ouragan were captured by the British in Plymouth harbour on 3 July 1940 during Operation Catapult. Both were eventually transferred to the Free French. Somewhat circuitously, Ouragan was first transferred to the Free Polish Navy. Both survived the war.

Tornade and Tramontaine were lost in the same engagement off Oran on 8 November 1942, against allied units protecting Operation Torch. Typhon was scuttled in Oran harbour to stop her being acquired by the Allies.

Simoun and Tempête, based at Casablanca, joined the Allies in November 1942. They may have joined the battleship Jean Bart in engaging the Allied 'Covering Group', a taskforce based on the battleship Massachusetts.

Trombe was the only ship of the class to be scuttled at Toulon in November 1942 alongside much of the French Navy. She was later raised, commissioned into the Italian Navy as FR31, and then re-transferred to the Free French on 28 October 1943. This destroyer was crippled (constructive total loss) by a fascist Italian MTM explosive motorboat on 17 April 1945 in the Gulf of Genoa.

Notes

References

• Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
• Cernuschi, Enrico & O'Hara, Vincent P. (2013). "Toulon: The Self-Destruction and Salvage of the French Fleet". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2013. London: Conway. pp. 134–148. ISBN 978-1-84486-205-4.
• Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
• Colledge, J. J. & Adams, T. A. (May 2022). "French Ships Seized by the Royal Navy During the Second World War — Part 2". Marine News Supplement: Warships. 76 (5): S261–S276. ISSN 0966-6958.
• Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. 1: Major Surface Warships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-790-9.
• Jordan, John & Moulin, Jean (2015). French Destroyers: Torpilleurs d'Escadre & Contre-Torpilleurs 1922–1956. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-198-4.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.

External links

• Bourrasque class on uboat.net
• "Mistral" : Un nom, une histoire