French destroyer Chevalier Paul (1932)

Chevalier Paul was one of six s (contre-torpilleurs) built for the French Navy during the 1930s.

After France surrendered to Germany in June 1940 during World War II, Chevalier Paul served in the naval forces of Vichy France. On 11 June 1941 she departed Toulon, France, bound for Beirut with a cargo of 800 rounds of 5.45-inch (140 mm) ammunition for Vichy French forces defending the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon from an invasion by the Allies. She passed the Greek island of Kastellorizo on 15 June and hugged the coast of Turkey to try to avoid detection or interception by British forces on Cyprus, but Allied signals intelligence had discovered that Germany had given permission for the voyage and a British reconnaissance aircraft found her at 18:15 on 15 June. Six British Cyprus-based Fleet Air Arm Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers attacked her at 03:00 the next morning and torpedoed her at the cost of one Swordfish shot down.

Chevalier Paul radioed for help, and the Vichy French destroyers FRENCH DESTROYER Valmy and FRENCH DESTROYER Guépard immediately departed Beirut to come to her aid, but were almost immediately intercepted by the New Zealand light cruiser HMNZS Leander and the British destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Kimberley (F50) and forced to retire to Beirut. After French aircraft drove off the Allied ships, Valmy and Guépard again set out to assist Chevalier Paul, but they were too late, the ship sank at 06:45 off the coast of Syria. Valmy and Guépard rescued her survivors and the crew of the downed Swordfish.