NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Le Brestois 1971 with 100mm gun

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Le Corse	F761		Arsenal de Lorient	15.3.1952	5.8.1952	23.4.1955	stricken 1.1975
Le Brestois	F762		Arsenal de Lorient	14.8.1952	16.12.1952	19.1.1956	stricken 9.1975
Le Boulonnais	F763		A C de la Loire, Nantes	5.9.1952	12.5.1953	5.8.1955	stricken 6.1976
Le Bordelais	F764		F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne	30.1.1953	11.7.1953	7.4.1955	stricken 6.1976

Technical data

Displacement standard, t	1250
Displacement full, t	1702
Length, m	95.1 pp 99.7 oa
Breadth, m	10.3
Draught, m	4.30
No of shafts	2
Machinery	2 sets Rateau geared steam turbines, 2 Indret boilers
Power, h. p.	20000
Max speed, kts	28
Fuel, t	oil 292
Endurance, nm(kts)	4000(15)
Armament	3 x 2 - 57/60 Mod 1951, 2 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 4, 4 x 3 - 550 TT (24 K2/L3), 1 x 6 - 375 Bofors Mk 54 ASWRL, 2 DCT, 1 DCR
Electronic equipment	DRBV-20A, DRBC-30 radars, DUBV-1, DUBA-1 sonars
Complement	174

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

The E 50 class was designed to produce sea-going convoy escort vessels with a large radius of action. They were the first French ships to be built specifically for convoy escort. Although clearly influenced by the latest American thinking (they were of similar size to the contemporary Dealey class DEs, with which they shared an American-style flush-decked hull form with a transom stern), they were entirely of French design. Two were authorized under the 1949 Programme, and the second pair in 1950. The first three ships were financed under MDAP.

The original ASW armament comprised four triple banks of ASW torpedo rubes, all mounted forward at 01 deck level. Immediately abaft each bank was a ready-use locker carrying three more reloads, the torpedoes being transferred tail-first into the muzzle of the tubes. Initial drawings show a German-pattern single 105mm gun aft, with two of the new 57mm AA mountings in 'B' and 'X' positions. In the event, however, the 105mm was replaced by a third 57mm mounting for a homogeneous AA battery. There was a fire control position forward of the bridge with a director aft above the second mounting. As with the T 47 destroyers, initial drawings show a single tall lattice foremast on the British pattern, topped by a DRBV-20A air search radar, but a tall tripod with lattice support was eventually adopted. Le Bordelais was completed with a modified Strombos-Velensi funnel cap.

It was decided at a late stage to fit one of the new sextuple Bofors ASW RL, but the only position available - immediately forward of the DRBC-31 director - was not ideal because of its poor arcs fore and aft. This defect was corrected in the E 52 class.

The designed maximum speed was 26kts, but this was exceeded by an average of 3kts on trials. In convoy escort operations the E 50s were expected to maintain 14kts for maximum fuel economy.

Modernizations

early 1960s, Le Brestois: - 1 x 2 - 57/60(aft), 1 x 6 - 375 Bofors Mk 54 AWSRL, DRBV-20A radar; + 1 x 1 - 100/55 Mod 1964, DRBV-22A, DRBC-32A radars

1964, Le Corse, Le Boulonnais, Le Bordellais: - DRBV-20A radar; + DRBV-22A radar

Naval service

No significant events.