Dumont d'Urville arrives at the wharf. | |
History | |
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France | |
Name | Dumont d'Urville |
Namesake | Dumont d'Urville |
Builder | At. et Ch. Maritime Sud-Ouest, Bordeaux |
Launched | 21 March 1931 [1] |
Fate | Scrapped 26 March 1958 [1] |
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 |
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Armament |
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Armour |
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Aircraft carried | 1 × Gourdou-Leseurre GL-832 HY floatplane |
Dumont d'Urville was a Bougainville-class aviso of the French Navy, designed to operate from French colonies in Asia and Africa. She was built by Ateliers et Chantiers Maritime Sud-Ouest of Bordeaux and launched on 21 March 1931. [1]
After the Fall of France Dumont d'Urville remained under Vichy French control and in September 1940 she was in New Caledonia as a part the Vichy government's attempt to gain control of the French colony. However, the Royal Australian Navy cruiser Adelaide arrived carrying a Free French temporary governor, Henri Sautot, which led the Vichy governor to depart aboard Dumont d'Urville on 25 September. [2] [3]
On the night of 16–17 January 1941 Dumont d'Urville took part in the Battle of Koh Chang. [4]
In September 1942 Dumont d'Urville took part in rescuing survivors from RMS Laconia which the U-156 had torpedoed and sunk, known as the Laconia incident.
By 1944 Dumont d'Urville's armament had been augmented with the addition of four single-mounted 40 mm anti-aircraft (AA) guns, 11 single-mounted 20 mm AA guns, four anti-submarine mortars and two racks for 66 depth charges. [1]
Dumont d'Urville remained in French Navy service after the war until 26 March 1958 when she was scrapped. [1]
HMAS Adelaide was a Town-class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), named after Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. Laid down in 1915, wartime shortages and design modifications meant the ship was not completed until 1922, earning her the nickname "HMAS Longdelayed".
HMS Cornwall, pennant number 56, was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Kent sub-class built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. The ship spent most of her pre-World War II career assigned to the China Station. Shortly after the war began in August 1939, she was assigned to search for German commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean. Cornwall was transferred to the South Atlantic in late 1939 where she escorted convoys before returning to the Indian Ocean in 1941. She then sank the German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin in May. After the start of the Pacific War in December 1941, she began escorting convoys until she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in March 1942. The ship was sunk on 5 April by dive bombers from three Japanese aircraft carriers during the Indian Ocean Raid.
The Battle of Ko Chang took place on 17 January 1941 during the Franco-Thai War in which a flotilla of French warships attacked a smaller force of Thai vessels, including a coastal defence ship. The battle resulted in a tactical victory by the French Navy over the Royal Thai Navy although the strategic result is disputed. The Japanese intervened diplomatically and mediated a ceasefire which was in Thailand's favor as all disputed territories in French Indochina were ceded by Vichy France to Thailand. In the end, two Thai ships were sunk and one was heavily damaged. Within a month of the engagement, the French and the Thais negotiated a peace which ended the war.
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