French destroyer Léopard
Léopard at anchor, 6 June 1942
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| History | |
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  France
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| Name: | Léopard |
| Namesake: | Leopard |
| Builder: | Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Saint-Nazaire |
| Laid down: | 14 August 1923 |
| Launched: | 29 September 1924 |
| Commissioned: | 15 November 1927 |
| Honours and awards: |
Médaille de la Résistance with rosette, 29 November 1946 |
| Fate: | Ran aground and wrecked, 27 May 1943 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type: | Chacal-class destroyer |
| Displacement: |
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| 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: |
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| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 35.5 knots (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: |
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The French destroyer Léopard was a Chacal-class destroyer built for the French Navy during the 1920s. She became a training ship in the mid-1930s before serving as a convoy escort during World War II before the Germans invaded France in May 1940. After that time, she bombarded advancing German forces near the northern French coast and took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. After the surrender of France, she was seized by the British in July and turned over to the Free French.
Léopard escorted convoys in the Western Approaches in 1940–41 before beginning a year-long conversion into an escort destroyer. She helped to sink a German submarine before liberating the island of La Réunion in late 1942. She ran aground near Benghazi just a few weeks after being transferred to the Mediterranean in mid-1943. Salvage attempts failed and her wreck was abandoned after it broke in half.
The Chacal-class ships were designed to counter the large Italian Leone-class destroyers. They had an overall length of 126.8 meters (416 ft 0 in), a beam of 11.1 meters (36 ft 5 in), and a draft of 4.1 meters (13 ft 5 in). The ships displaced 2,126 metric tons (2,092 long tons) at standard and 2,980–3,075 metric tons (2,933–3,026 long tons) at deep load. They were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by five du Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 50,000 metric horsepower (37,000 kW; 49,000 shp), which would propel the ship at 35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph). During her sea trials on 12 May 1927, Léopard reached 35.59 knots (65.91 km/h; 40.96 mph) for a single hour. The ships carried 530 metric tons (522 long tons) of fuel oil which gave them a range of 3,000 nautical 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.
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