French destroyer Bison

Bison in the early 1930s
History
France
Name: Bison
Namesake: Bison
Builder: Arsenal de Lorient
Launched: 29 October 1928
Fate: Sunk, 3 May 1940
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type: Guépard-class destroyer
Displacement:
  • 2,436 t (2,398 long tons) (standard)
  • 3,220 t (3,170 long tons) (full load)
Length: 130.2 m (427 ft 2.0 in)
Beam: 11.5 m (37 ft 8.8 in)
Draft: 4.3 m (14 ft 1.3 in)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Speed: 35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph)
Range: 3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph)
Crew: 12 officers, 224 crewmen (wartime)
Armament:

The French destroyer Bison was a Guépard-class destroyer (contre-torpilleurs) built for the French Navy during the 1920s.

Career

The Bison served during the Norwegian Campaign in World War II. While evacuating Allied troops at Namsos, the ship came under German attack and exploded after being struck in the forward magazine by a bomb, killing 136 members of her crew and causing the ship to sink by the bow. HMS Afridi came to the rescue of the surviving crew, rescuing sixty-nine of the French sailors in the water and sinking the hull of the ship. However, the Afridi soon came under air attack and sank as well, and among the dead were thirty-five of the surviving crew of the Bison. The surviving crew of the Bison, the Afridi, and the troops they evacuated were rescued by the Imperial and Griffin.

Notes

    References

    • Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
    • Jordan, John & Moulin, Jean (2015). French Destroyers: Torpilleurs d'Escadre & Contre-Torpilleurs 1922–1956. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-198-4.
    • Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.


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