L'Adroit-class destroyer

The L'Adroit class destroyer was a group of fourteen French Navy destroyers (torpilleur) laid down in 1925-26 and commissioned from 1928 to 1931. They were the successors to the, with the same armament, but being slightly heavier overall.

Service history
The class saw varied service in the Second World War.

La Railleuse was the first French destroyer casualty of the war, being blown up in Casablanca harbour by an accidental torpedo explosion on 24 March 1940. L'Adroit was sunk by a bomb from a German He 111 bomber on 21 May 1940 near Dunkirk, but her entire crew were able to escape and served in shore batteries until the French capitulation. Foudroyant was sunk in similar circumstances, but with more loss of life, on 1 June 1940.

Basque, Forbin and Le Fortuné were part of the French Alexandria squadron, which were disarmed by the British on 22 June 1940 following French capitulation. They were rearmed under Free French auspices in December 1943.

Boulonnais, Brestois, Fougueux and Frondeur were all sunk by Allied ships off Casablanca, as part of Operation Torch. L'Alcyon survived the attack and joined the Allies.

Bordelais, La Palme and Le Mars joined many other French warships in scuttling at Toulon to stop their being taken over by the German navy.

Ships

 * FRENCH DESTROYER L'Adroit (Pennant number: T2, 11, 21, 42, 41, 23, T23)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Basque (Pennant number: 55, 11, 57, 97, 43, 42, 23, 91, 92, T92, T91, T33)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Bordelais (Pennant number: 117, 112, 22, 81, T81, T11)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Boulonnais (Pennant number: 11, 99, 73, 33, 53, T53, T52)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Brestois (Pennant number: 12, 97, 14, 31, 51, T51)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Forbin (Pennant number: 98, 15, 12, 3, 92, 91, T91, T92, T32)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Frondeur (Pennant number: 119, 115, 23, 22, T22)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER L'Alcyon (Pennant number: 116, 112, 71, 83, T83, T23, T63)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER La Palme (Pennant number: 74, 11, 1, T11, T13)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER La Railleuse (Pennant number: 73, 12, 5, 2, T32)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Le Fortuné (Pennant number: 72, 75, 32, 4, 1, T31)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Le Mars (Pennant number: 71, 72, 14, 2, T12)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Foudroyant (Pennant number: 99, 96, 44, 43, 52, T52)
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Fougueux (Pennant number: 118, 114, 21, T21)