French destroyer Bison (1928)
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The French destroyer Bison was a Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) built for the French Navy during the 1920s. Completed in 1930, the ship participated in the Second World War and was sunk during the Norwegian campaign of 1940 by German dive bombers.
Design and description
The Guépard-class ships were improved versions of the preceding Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".. They had an overall length of Script error: No such module "convert"., a beam of Script error: No such module "convert".,[1] and a draft of Script error: No such module "convert".. The ships displaced Script error: No such module "convert". at standard load[2] and Script error: No such module "convert". at deep load. Their crew consisted of 10 officers and 200 crewmen in peacetime and 102 officers and 224 enlisted men in wartime.[3]
The ships were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving a propeller shaft using steam provided by four du Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce Script error: No such module "convert". which was intended give the ships a speed of Script error: No such module "convert".. During her sea trials on 20 December 1929, Bison sustained a speed of Script error: No such module "convert". from Template:Cvt. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of Script error: No such module "convert". at Script error: No such module "convert"..[4]
The main battery of the Guépard class consisted of five Script error: No such module "convert". Modèle 1923 guns in single shielded mounts, one superfiring pair fore and aft of the superstructure and the fifth gun abaft the rear funnel. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of four semi-automatic Script error: No such module "convert". Modèle 1927 guns in single mounts positioned amidships. They were equipped with two rotating triple mounts for Script error: No such module "convert". torpedo tubes, one mount between the two pairs of funnels as well as another aft of the rear funnel. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of sixteen Script error: No such module "convert". depth charges, with eight more in reserve. They were also fitted with four depth-charge throwers, two on each side abreast the forward pair of funnels, for which the ships carried a dozen Script error: No such module "convert". depth charges.[5]
Construction and career
Bison served during the Norwegian Campaign in World War II. While evacuating Allied troops at Namsos, the ship came under German air attack and exploded after being struck in the forward magazine by a bomb, dropped by a Ju 87 from I./StG 1, killing 136 members of her crew and causing the ship to sink by the bow. The British destroyer Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". came to the aid of the surviving crew, rescuing sixty-nine of the French sailors in the water and sinking the hull of the ship.[6] However, Afridi soon came under air attack and sank as well, and among the dead were thirty-five of the surviving crew of Bison. The surviving crews from Bison, Afridi, and the troops they had evacuated were rescued by the destroyers Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". and Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"..[7]
Notes
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References
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External links
Template:Guépard class destroyer Template:May 1940 shipwrecks Script error: No such module "Coordinates".