French destroyer Trombe

Trombe was a built for the French Navy during the 1920s.

Design and description

The Bourrasque class had an overall length of, a beam of, and a draft of. The ships displaced at load and at deep load. They were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three du Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce, which would propel the ship at. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at.
The main armament of the Bourrasque-class ships consisted of four canon de Modèle 1919 guns in shielded single mounts, one superfiring pair each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of a single Canon de Modèle 1924 gun. The ships carried two triple mounts of torpedo tubes amidships. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern that housed a total of sixteen depth charges.

After France surrendered to Germany in June 1940 during World War II, Trombe served with the navy of Vichy France. She was among the ships of the French fleet scuttled at Toulon, France, on 27 November 1942. She later was salvaged and repaired by the Regia Marina, who christened the ship FR 31. When the Armistice of Cassibile was signed, the repairs were still underway and Free France requested the return of the vessel upon completion of the work. On October 28, 1943, the Trombe moved to Bizerte, once again under French command.
On April 16, 1945, off the coast of Liguria, near Sanremo, Trombe came under the combined attack of six MT explosive motorboats led by an MTSM motor torpedo boat of the Marina Nazionale Repubblicana. An explosive boat, either MTM 548 or MTM 26b, piloted by petty officer Sergio Denti, struck the Trombe starboard, killing 20 men and causing severe damage. She was successfully towed to Toulon, where the damage was ruled irreparable. The Trombe was put in reserve on 3 July 1945, stricken on 12 December 1946 and listed for sale on 7 December 1950.