Aigle-class destroyer

Aigle-class destroyer
Class overview
Name:	Aigle class
Operators:	French Navy
Preceded by:	Guépard class
Succeeded by:	Vauquelin class
Completed:	6
Scrapped:	1
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	2,441 t (2,402 long tons) (standard) 3,140 t (3,090 long tons) (full load)
Length:	128.5 m (421 ft 7 in)
Beam:	11.8 m (38 ft 9 in)
Draught:	4.4 m (14 ft 5 in)
Installed power:	64,000 PS (47,000 kW; 63,000 shp) 4 du Temple boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts 2 geared steam turbines
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range:	3,650 nmi (6,760 km; 4,200 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Crew:	10 officers, 217 crewmen (wartime)
Armament:	5 × single 138.6 mm (5.5 in) guns 1 × single 75 mm (3.0 in) anti-aircraft gun 4 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) anti-aircraft guns 2 × triple 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes 2 chutes, 4 throwers for 44 depth charges

The Aigle-class destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) were built for the French navy during the 1920s. They were very similar to the previous Guepard class, the only difference being improved machinery with higher pressure boilers, offering an additional 0.5 knots (0.93 km/h; 0.58 mph) of speed and a new model 138 mm gun with a sliding breech block giving a higher rate of fire. The ships were named after birds.

Three of the ships (Albatros, Épervier and Milan) were stationed in Morocco as part of the Vichy French navy, and engaged Allied forces in the battle of Casablanca during Operation Torch. Along with the unfinished battleship Jean Bart, they engaged the Allied 'Covering Group', a taskforce based on the battleship USS Massachusetts. Milan and Épervier both ran aground after being damaged in the battle; Albatros was damaged but, after her capture, repaired after the war and used as a gunnery training vessel.