NAVYPEDIA

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Simoun	10	A5	A C de St-Nazaire-Penhoët	8.1923	3.6.1924	4.1926	sold 2.1950
Siroco	11		A C de St-Nazaire-Penhoët	3.1924	3.10.1925	7.1927	sunk 31.5.1940
Tempête	12		A C Dubigeon, Nantes	12.1923	22.2.1925	9.1926	BU 2.1950
Bourrasque	13		A C de France, Dunkerque	11.1923	5.8.1925	9.1926	sunk 30.5.1940
Orage	14		CNF, Caen	8.1923	30.8.1924	12.1926	sunk 23.5.1940
Ouragan	15	34	CNF, Caen	4.1923	6.12.1924	1.1927	captured by UK 3.7.1940, to Poland (Ouragan), returned 4.1941, sold 4.1949
Cyclone	16		F C de la Méditerranée, Le Havre	9.1923	24.1.1925	6.1928	scuttled 18.6.1940
Mistral	17		F C de la Méditerranée, Le Havre	11.1923	6.6.1925	6.1927	to UK 7.1940-5/1945 (Mistral), BU 2.1950
Trombe	18		F C de la Gironde, Bordeaux	3.1923	29.12.1925	10.1927	scuttled 27.11.1942, to Italy (FR31), returned 10.1943, BU 2.1950
Tramontane	19		F C de la Gironde, Bordeaux	6.1923	29.11.1924	10.1927	beached 8.11.1942
Typhon	20		F C de la Gironde, Bordeaux	9.1923	22.5.1924	6.1928	scuttled 9.11.1942
Tornade	21		Dyle et Baccalan, Bordeaux	4.1923	13.3.1925	5.1928	sunk 8.11.1942

Technical data

Displacement standard, t	1319
Displacement full, t	1900
Length, m	99.5 pp 105.8 oa
Breadth, m	9.64
Draught, m	4.30
No of shafts	2
Machinery	Typhon, Tramontane, Tornade, Trombe: 2 sets Zoelly geared steam turbines, 3 Du Temple boilers Simoun, Cyclone, Tempête, Mistral, Bourrasque, Siroco: 2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 3 Du Temple boilers Orage, Ouragan: 2 sets Rateau-Bretagne geared steam turbines, 3 Du Temple boilers
Power, h. p.	33000
Max speed, kts	33
Fuel, t	oil 345
Endurance, nm(kts)	2150(14)
Armament	4 x 1 - 130/40 M1919, 1 x 1 - 75/50 M1922, 2 x 1 - 8.80, 2 x 3 - 550 TT, 2 DCT, 2 DCR (32)
Complement	142

Project history

First interwar "standard" destroyers of French Navy were built under the 1922 programme. They were outlined among the ships-contemporaries with a little archaic three-funnel outline profile. At the moment of laying down they carried strongest artillery in the world though its value was considerably decreased by low firing rate. Absence of sonar has appeared a serious lack. In the mid-thirties for stability funnels were shortened. Speed characteristics have appeared rather moderated: no more than 30kts at full displacement and to a beginning of war ships reached only 28-29kts.

Modernizations

1931, all: - 1 x 1 - 75/50, 2 x 1 - 8.80; + 2 x 1 - 37/50 M1925, 2 x 2 - 13.2/76

1939-1940, all: + type 123 sonar

1941 - 1942, Tornade: + 1 x 1 - 25/60 M1938, 2 x 2 - 13.2/76

1941 - 1942, Tramontane: - 1 x 3 - 550 TT; + 1 x 1 - 25/60 M1938, 2 x 2 - 13.2/76

1941 - 1942, Typhon: - 2 x 3 - 550 TT; + 1 x 1 - 25/60 M1938, 2 x 2 - 13.2/76, 1 x 2 - 550 TT

1943, Simoun: - 1 x 1 - 130/40, 2 x 1 - 37/50, 2 x 2 - 13.2/76, 1 x 3 - 550 TT; + 1 x 1 - 40/56 Mk 1.2, 6 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 4, radars

1943, Tempête: - 1 x 1 - 130/40, 2 x 1 - 37/50, 2 x 2 - 13.2/76, 1 x 3 - 550 TT; + 1 x 1 - 40/56 Mk 1.2, 8 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 4, radars

1943, Ouragan; 1945, Mistral: - 4 x 1 - 130/40, 2 x 1 - 37/50, 2 x 2 - 13.2/76, 1 x 3 - 550 TT; + 4 x 1 - 120/45 QF Mk IX, 1 x 1 - 76/40 12pdr 12cwt QF Mk I/II/V, 3 x 1 - 20/70 Mk II/IV, type 291 radar

early 1944, Simoun: - 1 x 3 - 550 TT

late 1940s, Trombe: + radars

Naval service

Bourrasque 29.5.1940 was mined off Ostend and sunk by German coastal guns off Nieuport. Cyclone 31.5.1940 at Dunkirk was damaged by German MTB S24 and lost fore end. 18.6.1940 she was blown up in dock at Brest at the approach of German troops. Mistral 3.7.1940 was captured by British at Plymouth (though she was partly scuttled by crew at capture). Till 1944 she was used as TS and then laid up into reserve. Orage in the evening 23.5.1940 was damaged by German aircraft off Boulogne and sunk at next day morning. Ouragan 3.7.1940 was captured by British at Portsmouth. 18.7.1940-30.4.1941 she served under Polish flag, but really never commissioned. Some time she served as TS and then was laid up into reserve. In 1943 she was returned to France, but never commissioned by French Navy again. Siroco on the night of 31.5.1940 at Dunkirk was hard damaged by German MTBs S23 and S26 and sunk by German aircraft in the morning. During Allied landing in the North Africa in November, 1942 off Oran Tornade and Tramontane were sunk by gunfire of British ships (Tornade was sunk by cruiser Aurora and sloop Calpe and Tramontane beached being damaged by Aurora), and damaged Typhon was scuttled by crew at Oran. Trombe was scuttled at Toulon 27.11.1942, but salvaged by Italians. She received name FR23. After capitulation of Italy 28.10.1943 she was returned to France. 16.4.1945 off San Remo she was hard damaged by torpedo hit from German MTB.

Many thanks to Wolfgang Stöhr for additional information on this page.