Bougainville was a Bougainville-class aviso of the French Navy launched on 25 April 1931 and commissioned on 15 February 1933.[1][2] The ship was designed to operate from French colonies in Asia and Africa and initially stationed in the Indian Ocean.[2] In 1935 it was transferred for service in the eastern and southern Mediterranean, and in early 1939 to Djibouti, returning to Toulon escorting a group of submarines after the outbreak of World War II.[2]
 Model of D'Entrecasteaux at Musée de la Marine de Paris
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Bougainville |
| Namesake | Admiral Louis Antoine de Bougainville |
| Laid down | 25 November 1929 |
| Launched | 25 April 1931 |
| Commissioned | 15 February 1933 |
| Fate | Sunk 9 November 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Bougainville-class aviso |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 103.7 m (340 ft 3 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 12.7 m (41 ft 8 in) |
| Draught | 4.15 m (13 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power | 2,100 PS (1,500 kW; 2,100 bhp) |
| Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 diesel engines |
| Speed | 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) |
| Range | 9,000 nmi (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armour |
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| Aircraft carried | 1 × Gourdou-Leseurre GL-832 HY floatplane |
It sided with Vichy France and was sunk by off Libreville by its sister ship Savorgnan de Brazza on 9 November 1940 in the Battle of Gabon. Although refloated in March 1941, Bougainville sank again and was finally broken up in 1952.[2]
References edit
- ^ "Bougainville". Netmarine.net. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
- ^ a b c d Roche, Jean-Michel (2013). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la Flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours: Tome II (in French). JMR. ISBN 978-2-9525917-3-7.
Bibliography edit
- Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Jordan, John (2016). "The Colonial Sloops of the Bougainville Class". Warship 2016. London: Conway. pp. 8–29. ISBN 978-1-84486-326-6.
- Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy. Navies of the Second World War. Vol. 2. London: MacDonald & Co. ISBN 0-356-02385-0.
- 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.
Further reading edit
- Landais, Henri (2012). Les Avisos Coloniaux [The Colonial Avisos] (in French). Lela Presse. ISBN 978-2-914017-64-0.
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