Aigle-class destroyer

The Aigle class destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) of the French navy were laid down between 1928 and 1929 and commissioned in 1931 and 1932. They were very similar to the previous Guepard class, the only difference being improved machinery with higher pressure boilers, offering an additional 0.5 kn 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.

Ships

 * Aigle (Eagle; pennant numbers 5, 6 and X13)
 * Built by Ateliers et Chantiers de France, Dunkirk
 * Launched 19 February 1931
 * Completed 10 October 1932
 * Scuttled 27 November 1942
 * Refloated 10 July 1943.
 * Bombed and sunk 24 November 1943

Broken up in situ 1952.
 * Vautour (Vulture; pennant numbers 6, 5, 73, X71)
 * Built by Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, Le Havre
 * Launched 26 August 1930
 * Completed 2 May 1932
 * Scuttled 27 November 1942
 * Refloated 17 January 1943
 * Bombed and sunk 4 February 1944
 * Broken up in situ 1951


 * Albatros (3, 2, 5, 72, X73, X77, F762, D614)
 * built by Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Nantes
 * Launched 27 June 1930
 * Completed 25 December 1931
 * Decommissioned 9 September 1959


 * Gerfaut (Gyrfalcon - 4, 71, X72)
 * Built by Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne, Nantes
 * Launched 14 June 1930
 * Completed 30 January 1932
 * Scuttled 27 November 1942
 * Refloated 1 June 1943.
 * Partly scrapped June-September 1943
 * Hulk bombed and sunk 7 March 1944
 * Broken up in situ 1948


 * Milan (Kite - 1, 4, X113, X111)
 * Built by Arsenal de Lorient
 * Launched 13 October 1931
 * Completed 20 April 1934 -
 * On 8 November 1942, off Casablanca, she was hit by 16 in shells from the US fleet and had to be beached.


 * Épervier (Sparrowhawk - 2, 5, X112)
 * Built by Arsenal de Lorient,
 * Launched 14 August 1931
 * Completed 1 April 1934 - On 9 November 1942,
 * She was sunk by HMS Aurora (12) off Oran. She was raised, and eventually broken up in 1946.

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 FRENCH BATTLESHIP Jean Bart, they engaged the Allied 'Covering Group', a taskforce based on the battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-59). 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.