 Espingole moving at slow speed in harbor | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Espingole |
| Namesake | French type ofblunderbuss |
| Ordered | 1896 |
| Builder | Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand,Le Havre |
| Cost | ₣1,690,994 |
| Laid down | 1896 or 1897 |
| Launched | 28 June 1900 |
| Completed | 24 September 1900 |
| Stricken | 16 September 1903 |
| Fate | Sank after striking a rock, 4 February 1903 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Durandal-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 311 t (306long tons) |
| Length | 57.64 m (189 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 6.3 m (20 ft 8 in) |
| Draft | 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) |
| Depth | 4.1 m (13 ft 5 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 26knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) |
| Range | 2,300 nmi (4,300 km; 2,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 64 officers and enlisted men |
| Armament |
|
Espingole was aDurandal-classdestroyer built for theFrench Navy in the late 1890s.Commissioned in 1900, she saw only a few years of service beforerunning aground and sinking in 1903 off theCôte d'Azur. Hercaptain was acquitted at hiscourt-martial seven years later. Multiplesalvage attempts failed and a legal dispute arising from the last attempt was not settled until 1926.
Espingole had anoverall length of 57.64 meters (189 ft 1 in), abeam of 6.3 meters (20 ft 8 in), and a maximumdraft of 3.2 meters (10 ft 6 in). She displaced 311metric tons (306long tons) atdeep load. The twotriple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, were designed to produce 5,200metric horsepower (3,825 kW), using steam provided by twowater-tube boilers. The ship had a designed speed of 26knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), butEspingole reached 27.41 knots (50.76 km/h; 31.54 mph) during hersea trials in August and September 1900. The ship carried 37.6 metric tons (37.0 long tons) of coal, enough to give her a range of 2,300nautical miles (4,300 km; 2,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Herhull was subdivided by nine watertight transversebulkheads. She had a crew of four officers and sixty enlisted men.[1]
Espingole carried a single 65-millimeter (2.6 in) gun forward of thebridge. The gun had a maximum range of 9,000 meters (9,800 yd) and a rate of fire of five rounds per minute. The ship carried 375 rounds for the gun. She also mounted six47-millimeter (1.9 in)Hotchkiss guns, three on eachbroadside. The guns had a sustained rate of fire of seven rounds per minute and a maximum range of 4,000 meters (4,400 yd). She carried a total of 2,850 rounds of 47 mm ammunition.Espingole mounted two single 381-millimeter (15 in)torpedo tubes: one between thefunnels and the other on the stern. Two reloadtorpedoes were also carried; their air flasks, however, had to be charged before they could be used, a process that took several hours. The Modèle 1887 torpedo that they used had a warhead weight of 42 kilograms (93 lb).[2]
The ship waslaid down in 1896–97[3] byChantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand at theirLe Havreshipyard,[2] as the last of the fourDurandal-classdestroyers.[3] She was named after a French type ofblunderbuss;[4] all of the ships in herclass were named after weapons.[3]Espingole waslaunched on 28 June 1900 and completed around September when she ran her speed trials. Construction costs were 1,690,994francs. She was assigned to theMediterranean Fleet in December and made a number of port visits in France, Corsica andFrench North Africa throughout 1901. Her rudder was damaged after striking the bottom offGolfe-Juan andEspingole was under repair 3–27 September.[1]
In October 1901, the 1st Battleship Division, under the command ofRear Admiral (contre-amiral)Leonce Caillard, consisting of thebattleshipsGaulois andCharlemagne, thearmored cruiserPothuau, and escorted byEspingole and the destroyerEpée, was ordered to proceed to the port ofMytilene on the island ofLesbos, then part by theOttoman Empire. After Caillard landed twocompanies ofmarines that occupied the major ports of the island on 7 November,SultanAbdul Hamid II agreed to enforce contracts made with French companies and to repay loans made by French banks. The ships made a number of port visits while they were in theAegean, including the islands ofMilos,Syros, andTinos, in addition to the ports ofSmyrna andPiraeus. The 1st Division returned toToulon on 12 December. The ship was refitted from 3 to 17 April 1902 before she resumed her normal routine of port visits.Lieutenant (Lieutenant de vaisseau (LV)) Marcotte de Sainte-Marie relieved LV Langier in June andEspingole was refitted again from 13 November to 2 December. She made a port visit in early 1903 atRochefort before resuming training.[5]
The ship struck a rock in Cavalaire Bay, offCavalaire-sur-Mer, on 4 February 1903 after straying outside the channel, and ripped a hole 2.5–3-meter (8 ft 2 in – 9 ft 10 in) in the bottom of the hull. Coal, ammunition, and two 47 mm guns were thrown overboard to lighten the ship and hersister shipHallebarde attempted to pull her off. Thehawser broke after only movingEspingole roughly 5–6 meters (16 ft 5 in – 19 ft 8 in), injuring two ofHallebarde's crewmen.Hallebarde then rescuedEspingole's 62-man crew before the ship sank at coordinates43°09′20″N06°36′30″E / 43.15556°N 6.60833°E /43.15556; 6.60833. LV Marcotte de Sainte-Marie was finally acquitted at his court-martial seven years after his ship ran aground.[6]
The initial salvage attempts were unsuccessful and theEspingole was struck off the naval register on 16 September. The navy sold her wreck at auction in December 1909 and decided to offer an escalating series of bonuses if the winner could refloat the ship and deliver it intact. The salvage company was no more successful and abandoned the effort after five months of work. The company claimed that the navy had disturbed the wreck and sued for 60,000 francs plus damages. The dispute was not settled until 3 March 1926.[7]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1903 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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