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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Tigre |
| Namesake | Tiger |
| Ordered | 26 February 1923 |
| Builder | Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne,Nantes |
| Laid down | 18 September 1923 |
| Launched | 2 August 1924 |
| Completed | 1 February 1926 |
| In service | 7 February 1926 |
| Out of service | July 1940 |
| Captured | 27 November 1942 |
 Kingdom of Italy | |
| Name | FR23 |
| Acquired | After 27 November 1942 |
| Commissioned | 19 January 1943 |
| Fate | Returned to France, 28 October 1943 |
 Free French | |
| Name | Tigre |
| Acquired | 28 October 1943 |
| Recommissioned | 15 December 1943 |
| Out of service | September 1948 |
| Reclassified | As a stationarytraining ship, late 1948 |
| Stricken | 4 January 1954 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1955 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class & type | Chacal-class destroyer |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 126.8 m (416 ft 0.1 in) |
| Beam | 11.1 m (36 ft 5.0 in) |
| Draft | 4.1 m (13 ft 5.4 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 35.5knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph) |
| Range | 3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Crew | 12 officers, 209 crewmen (wartime) |
| Armament |
|
TheFrench destroyerTigre was aChacal-classdestroyer built for theFrench Navy during the 1920s. Aside from cruises to theEnglish Channel andFrench West Africa, she spent her entire career in theMediterranean Sea. The ship was assigned to the Torpedo School atToulon in 1932 and remained there until World War II began in September 1939. She was then assigned convoy escort duties in the Atlantic; in July 1940, the ship was present when the Britishattacked the French ships at Mers-el-Kébir, but managed to escape without damage. After she reached Toulon,Tigre was placed inreserve where she remained for the next two years. When theGermans attempted to seize the French fleet there in November 1942, she was one of the few ships that was notscuttled and was captured virtually intact.
The Germans later turned her over to theRoyal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) who renamed herFR 23 when theyrecommissioned her in early 1943. The ship was under repair in Italy whenItaly surrendered in September, but managed to join theAllies. She was given to theFree French the following month, but she needed extensive repairs that lasted until early 1944.Tigre returned to convoy work for a few months before beginning a more extensive reconstruction that last until early 1945. She was then assigned to the Flank Force that protected Allied forces in theTyrrhenian Sea from German forces in Northern Italy for the rest of the war. Several weeks after the end of the war in May, the ship supported French forces in Algeria during theriots in May–June.Tigre was then assigned as a fast troop transport until the end of 1946. She became a gunnerytraining ship until mid-1948 and was thenhulked for the Engineering School. The ship was stricken from theNavy List in 1954 andbroken up for scrap the following year.
TheChacal-class ships were designed to counter the large ItalianLeone-class destroyers. They had anoverall length of 126.8 meters (416 ft 0 in), abeam of 11.1 meters (36 ft 5 in),[1] and adraft of 4.1 meters (13 ft 5 in). The ships displaced 2,126 metric tons (2,092 long tons) atstandard[2] and 2,980–3,075 metric tons (2,933–3,026 long tons) atdeep load. They were powered by two gearedsteam turbines, each driving onepropeller shaft, using steam provided by fivedu Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 50,000metric horsepower (37,000 kW; 49,000 shp), which would propel the ship at 35.5knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph). During hersea trials on 3 October 1925,Tigre's turbines provided 57,200 metric horsepower (42,100 kW; 56,400 shp) and she reached 36.7 knots (68.0 km/h; 42.2 mph) for a single hour. The ships carried 530 metric tons (522 long tons) offuel oil which gave them a range of 3,000nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Their crew consisted of 10 officers and 187 crewmen in peacetime and 12 officers and 209 enlisted men in wartime.[3]
The main armament of theChacal-class ships consisted of fiveCanon de 130 mm Modèle 1919 guns in single mounts, onesuperfiring pair fore and aft of the superstructure and the fifth gunabaft the aftfunnel. The guns were numbered '1' to '5' from front to rear. Theiranti-aircraft armament consisted of twoCanon de 75 mm modèle 1924 guns in single mounts positionedamidships. The ships carried two above-water triple sets of 550-millimeter (21.7 in)torpedo tubes. A pair ofdepth charge chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of twenty 200-kilogram (440 lb) depth charges. They were also fitted with four depth-charge throwers for which they carried a dozen 100-kilogram (220 lb) depth charges.[4]
Tigre, named after theeponymous feline, was ordered on 26 February 1923 fromAteliers et Chantiers de Bretagne. She waslaid down at theirNantesshipyard on 18 September,launched on 2 August 1924, completed on 1 February 1926 and entered service six days later. Completion was delayed by problems with her propulsion machinery and late deliveries by sub-contractors. The ship was assigned to the 1st Large Destroyer Division (1ère division de contre-torpeilleurs) (DCT) of theMediterranean Squadron (renamed 5th Light Division (Division légère) (DL) of the First Squadron (1ère Escadre) on 1 February 1927) based atToulon upon completion, together with hersister shipsPanthère andChacal. A few days after her arrival at Toulon,Tigre was on display during theNice Carnival. On 27 April 1927, the ship participated in a naval review byGaston Doumergue,President of France, offMarseille. The following month, she was one of the ships that escorted Doumergue across theEnglish Channel during his state visit to Britain in May–June 1927.Tigre was also present when he next reviewed the fleet on 3 July 1928 offLe Havre.[5] On 9 October 1928,Tigre got underway from Toulon withChacal andPanthère to search for the missingsubmarineOndine.[6]
Tigre andChacal escorted thelight cruiserPrimauguet toFrench West Africa between 13 January and 10 April 1931 and the four depth charge throwers were removed in 1932. The ship was assigned to the 9th DL[Note 1] of the Torpedo Training School (Ecole d'application du lancement à la mer) at Toulon on 1 October 1932. About two years later, the 75-millimeter guns were replaced by four twin mounts for13.2-millimeter (0.5 in)anti-aircraft machineguns. When the war started in September 1939,Tigre was still assigned to the 4th DCT with her sistersPanthère andLynx. She was assigned to the Western Command (Forces maritimes de l'Ouest) for convoy escort duties from October to May 1940 where she guarded convoys traveling betweenGibraltar and Brest as well asCasablanca,French Morocco, andLe Verdon-sur-Mer. In November, the ship had a British Type 123ASDIC installed; in addition two depth-charge throwers were reinstalled, No. 3 gun removed, and her depth charge stowage reduced to a dozen 200 kg and eight 100 kg depth charges to improve her stability.[8] The ship managed to escape the harbor during the British attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July and briefly engaged the destroyerHMS Wrestler, together with her sisterLynx. The sisters then depth charged the submarineHMS Proteus[9] as the French ships headed for Toulon, where they arrived the following day.[10] As the oldestcontre-torpilleurs in service,Tigre and her sisters were reduced to reserve and stripped of their light anti-aircraft armament.[11]
On 27 November 1942, the ship was captured almost intact by the Germans when they occupied Toulon and was turned over to the Italians on 14 December. TheRegia Marina redesignated her asFR23 and sherecommissioned on 19 January 1943 afterPierre Laval, head ofVichy France, agreed to transfer her on 11 January; she sailed toTaranto on 13 April where the Italians used her as a transport in Italian waters. She was still not fully operational whenItaly surrendered on 8 September and the ship was turned over to the Free French atBizerte, French North Africa, on 28 October.[12]Tigre was recommissioned on 15 December, but her repairs at Bizerte and, later, Casablanca, took until March 1944. A few20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon lightAA guns were installed while she was being repaired. She escorted convoys in the Mediterranean until she began a lengthy reconstruction atOran, French North Africa, that lasted until 3 February 1945. While escorting a convoy fromCorsica to Algiers, the ship was damaged by splinters from two near-misses on 20 April 1944. While in Oran,Tigre's forward boiler and funnel were replaced by additional oil tanks, that increased her range to 4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), and additional accommodation for her crew. Her depth charge chutes were sealed off and a pair of British-style racks were installed, each holding nine depth charges as well as four, later two, depth-charge throwers and additional depth charges. One set of torpedo tubes were removed in compensation. Her anti-aircraft suite now consisted of two single mounts for40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors and ten single Oerlikon light AA guns.Tigre was then assigned to the French-controlledtask force, known as Flank Force, that providednaval gunfire support for Allied forces operating near the Italian-French border and protected the Allied flank against German naval forces inGenoa andLa Spezia, Italy.[13]
The ship was in Toulon when the war ended in May 1945. She provided fire support to French forces during the riots in Algeria later that month and in June.Tigre then began ferrying troops throughout the Mediterranean until December 1946. She then became a gunnery training ship until 9 September 1948 while the destroyerAlbatros was being converted. Afterwards,Tigre served as a stationary training ship for the Engineer School atSaint-Mandrier-sur-Mer until she was stricken from the Navy List on 4 January 1954. The hulk was scrapped the following year.[14]
 French Navy | |
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 Regia Marina |
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