French destroyer La Combattante
La Combattante in January 1943
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Haldon |
| Builder: | Fairfields, Glasgow |
| Identification: | pennant number: L19 |
| Fate: | Transferred to Free French Navy in 1942 |
 Free France
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| Name: | La Combattante |
| Acquired: | 1942 |
| Fate: | Mined 23 February 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Type III Hunt-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,050 tons standard; 1,435 tons full load |
| Length: | 85.3 m (280 ft) |
| Beam: | 10.16 m (33.3 ft) |
| Draught: | 3.51 m (11.5 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 19,000 shp (14,000 kW) |
| Speed: | 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph) |
| Range: | 2,350 nmi (4,350 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Complement: | 168 |
| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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| Armament: |
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La Combattante ("The Fighter") was a destroyer of the Forces navales françaises libres (FNFL). A British-built Hunt-class destroyer, she was offered to the Free French in 1942.
Laid down as HMS Haldon, she was damaged in a bombing in the night of 14 March 1941. She was offered to the FNFL in 1942, and renamed La Combattante.
La Combattante made her first sortie in 23 March 1943, escorting a convoy in the English Channel. She rescued 68 sailors from the liberty ship Stell Traveller, after it had struck a mine.
On 29 May 1943, she rescued British and Australian aircrews ; in September 1943, she rescued two British airmen.
In the night of 25–26 April 1944, La Combattante and the frigate HMS Rowley intercepted a group of German E-boats; La Combattante managed to sink S-147 and damage another ship. In the night of 12–13 May, La Combattante destroyed S-141, killing Klaus Dönitz, Admiral Dönitz's son in the process.
During the night of 27–28 May La Combattante met motor torpedo boats MTB-732 and MTB-739; the two groups mistakenly engaged each other, and MTB-732 was sunk.
Under commandant André Patou, La Combattante took part in Operation Neptune, providing close fire support to the landing parties during the Battle of Normandy off Courseulles-sur-Mer. She stayed 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) off the beach, in 4 metres (13 ft) deep waters, as she shelled shore batteries; at one point she ran aground, and HMS Venus morsed "I am happy that a French be the first to touch the ground of France". La Combattante destroyed several shore batteries, until troops started landing on the beach. She then returned to Portsmouth, escorting a landing ship dock.
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Wikipedia