French destroyer Obusier

Obusier in Saint-Malo
History
France
Name	Obusier
Namesake	Howitzer
Builder	Arsenal de Rochefort
Laid down	10 May 1904
Launched	9 March 1905
Stricken	27 May 1921
General characteristics
Class & type	Claymore-class destroyer
Displacement	356  t (350 long tons)
Length	58 m (190 ft 3 in) (waterline)
Beam	6.53 m (21 ft 5 in)
Draft	2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)
Installed power	2 Normand boilers 6,800  ihp (5,071  kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Range	2,300  nmi (4,300 km; 2,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	60
Armament	1 × 65 mm (2.6 in) gun 6 × 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns 2 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes

Obusier was one of 13 Claymore-class destroyers built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

Construction and career

Obusier in Cherbourg, July 1909

Obusier was ordered on 5 August 1903 and was laid down at the Arsenal de Rochefort on 10 May 1904. The ship was launched on 9 March 1906 and was assigned to the Northern Squadron after her completion in October 1907. ^[1] She was transferred to the Rochefort Local Defenses (Défense mobile de Rochefort) in January 1910 and immediately began a lengthy refit that lasted until August 1912 when she was reassigned to the Brest Local Defenses. She remained with the unit until November when she was transferred to the Third Squadron (3^e Escadre), as the Northern Squadron had been redesignated while she was under repair. Obusier was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla (1^re escadrille de torpilleurs) of the 2nd Light Squadron (2^e escadre légère) in August 1913 and was refitted from December 1913 to June 1914 at Rochefort. The ship was transferred to the North Sea Squadron (Flotille de la mer du Nord), based at Dunkerque, in October 1915. She had her stern blown off by a naval mine on 24 May 1916. Obusier was placed in reserve in May 1919, struck from the naval register on 27 May 1921 and sold for scrap on 6 March 1922. ^[2]

References

1. Roberts, p. 381
2. Le Masson, p. 141

Bibliography

• Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905 . Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN   0-8317-0302-4.
• Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN   0-7110-0445-5.
• Le Masson, Henri (1967). Histoire du Torpilleur en France[History of the Torpedo-armed Ship in France]. Paris: Académie de marine. OCLC   491016784.
• Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome I 1914–1915[The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book I 1914–1915]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 23. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN   978-2-37468-000-2.
• Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome II 1916–1918[The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book II 1916–1918]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 27. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN   978-2-37468-001-9.
• Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   978-1-5267-4533-0.