French destroyer Le Malin

French destroyer Le Malin underway, c1940
History
France
Name: Le Malin
Builder: Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, Le Havre
Launched: 17 August 1933
Completed: November 1935
Commissioned: 8 June 1936
Reclassified: March 1943
Fate: Scrapped in February 1964
General characteristics
Class and type: Le Fantasque-class destroyer
Displacement: 2,570 tonnes
Length: 132.40 m (434.4 ft)
Beam: 11.98 m (39.3 ft)
Draught: 4.30 m (14.1 ft)
Propulsion:
  • 4 Penhoët boilers
  • 2 Parsons or Rateau engines
  • 74,000 to 81,000 hp
  • 2 propellers
Speed: 40
Range: 1,200 km (650 nmi; 750 mi) at 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Armament:

Le Malin ("The malign one") was a large destroyer (contre-torpilleur, "Torpedo-boat destroyer") of the French Navy which served during the Second World War.

Le Malin was launched in August 1933 and commissioned in June 1936.

During the early months of World War II, Le Malin patrolled the North Atlantic with the Force de Raid,[1] taking part in the pursuit of the Graf Spee in mid-October.

On 29 May 1940 Le Malin took part in the evacuation of allied troops at Dunkerque, and was struck by mines.

Le Malin was lightly damaged by British aircraft during the Battle of Mers-el-Kebir on 3 July, and after being repaired she took part in the Battle of Dakar in September,[2]:42 but was sent to Casablanca in mid-October.

In November 1942, after being damaged in Operation Torch, Le Malin rejoined the Allied forces. In March 1943 she received a massive refit at Boston. She received: two radars; ASDIC; and her 37 and 13.2 millimeter (mm) armament was replaced by 40 and 20 mm guns. After this refit, Le Malin was reclassified as a light cruiser to match allied standards. She was sent to Mediterranean, operating in the landings of Salerno on 9 September 1943. On the nights of 13 and 14 October Le Malin landed more than 250 commandos at Ajaccio.

In 1944 Spring, with her sister ships Le Fantasque and Le Terrible, Le Malin formed the 10th Light Cruiser Division in the Adriatic, attacking German convoys at night including defeating a German convoy just off Ist island in February 1944. In August, she took part in Operation Dragoon, the allied invasion of southern France and in December she collided with Le Terrible and was under repair until 1945, receiving the bow from her scuttled sister L'Indomptable

From 1951 to 1952, Le Malin served at Indochina as an escort ship of aircraft carrier Arromanches. Placed in reserve on 31 July 1952, Le Malin was converted to teaching and training ship in 1952. Assigned from August 1952 to October 1956 as an annex ship to the French Naval academy for the Training of Officer cadets of the Navy. She then served as a pontoon in the military harbour of Brest.

She was scrapped in February 1964.[3]

Her hull, numbered Q 359, was then used as a breakwater at the mouth of the Scorff River, near Lorient, then sold for scrap in 1976 and dismantled.


References

  1. ↑ Rohwer, Jürgen; Hummelchen, Gerhard (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 5. ISBN 1-55750-105-X.
  2. ↑ Hümmelchen, Jürgen Rohwer ; with special assistance from Gerhard; Weis, Thomas (2005). Chronology of the war at sea : 1939-1945 : the naval history of World War II (3. rev. ed.). Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
  3. ↑ Le Masson, Henri (1969). Navies of the Second World War The French Navy Volume 1. London: Macdonald. p. 115. ISBN 0356023842.
  • Saibène, Marc (n.d.). Toulon et la Marine 1942-1944. Bourg en Bresse: Marines Editions at Realisations.
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