NAVYPEDIA

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FIGHTING SHIPS OF THE WORLD
FRANCE
TORPEDO SHIPS
AGILE sea-going torpedo boats (1889 - 1894)


Ships


Name No Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comp Fate
Agile     F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne   4.7.1889 1889 sold 1912
Audacieux     F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne   8.5.1889 1889 collision 10.7.1896
Eclaire     F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne   29.8.1891 1891 sold 1911
Kabyle     F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne   11.1891 1892 sold 1911
Orage     F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne   15.10.1891 1892 sold 1921
Sarrazin     A C de la Gironde, Bordeaux   25.6.1892 1894 sold 1908
Tourbillon     A C de la Gironde, Bordeaux   10.10.1892 1894 sold 1911


Technical data


Displacement normal, t

102

Displacement full, t

119

Sarrazin, Tourbillon: 129

Length, m

43.6 wl

Sarrazin, Tourbillon: 44.2 wl

Breadth, m

4.55

Draught, m

1.10

No of shafts

1

Machinery

Agile, Audacieux: 1 VTE, 1 locomotive boiler

Eclaire, Kabyle, Orage: 1 VTE, 2 Thornycroft boilers

Sarrazin, Tourbillon: 1 VTE, 2 Du Temple boilers

Power, h. p.

1100

Max speed, kts

20

Fuel, t

coal 35

Endurance, nm(kts)

3000(10.5)

Armament

Agile, Audacieux, Eclaire, Kabyle: 3 x 5 - 37/20 M1885, 3 x 1 - 350 TT

Orage, Sarrazin, Tourbillon: 3 x 5 - 37/20 M1885, 1 - 380 TT (bow), 1 x 1 - 380 TT

Complement

27



Project history

The prototype pair were ordered on 3.8.1888 to the design of the director of the La Seyne yard. They were not as fast as the Avant-Garde at between 20 and 21kts, but were robust and economical, with a high level of stability, and an unrivalled radius of 3000nm at 10.5kts. The major disadvantages were the single boiler and propeller. They originally had one funnel and two masts. The repeat order for three boats was placed on 2.5.1890, but these were constructed with heavier scantlings and two watertube boilers (hence two funnels). The boilers were highly successful and all three made 21.5kts on trials.

Two further boats had been ordered on 9.4.1890 to a design modified by the Gironde yard, but a series of boiler accidents culminating in the explosion aboard Sarrazin on 13.1.1894 delayed their entry into service for nearly two years while du Temple boilers were substituted instead of original Babillot. They never achieved 21kts, and their Cail-built engines gave frequent trouble. As early as 1896 they could do not more than 18kts.

Modernizations

None.

Naval service

Audacieux sank after collision 10.7.1896.