French sloop Élan
Élan was the lead ship of her class of 13 minesweeping sloops built for the French Navy during the late 1930s. Completed in 1939, she was participated in the Second World War. The ship was interned in Turkey in June 1941 and released to the Free French Naval Forces in December 1944. She remained in service after the war and was decommissioned on 26 March 1958 and scrapped.
Description
The Élan class had a of and displaced at deep load. The vessels were long overall and between perpendiculars with a beam of and a draught of at deep load. They were powered by two Sulzer diesel engines rated at a total of, each driving one propeller shaft which gave them a speed of. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a maximum range of at. They were fitted with an auxiliary rudder built into the bow. The ships had a complement of 88 in peacetime and 106 during wartime.The main battery of the Élan class was intended to consist of two guns in a single twin-gun mounting on the aft superstructure, but the mount was not yet available and a single Canon de 100 mm Modèle 1917 ST gun was installed aboard Élan. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by eight Hotchkiss Mle 1929 machineguns. One quadruple mount was positioned forward of the bridge and two twin mounts were located on the forward superstructure between the bridge and the funnel, one on each broadside. The ships were intended to be fitted with a depth charge rack at the stern and four throwers amidships, but shortages of the latter meant that only two throwers were generally carried, one on each side. The Elans initially carried 40 depth charges weighing apiece. The vessels were designed for minesweeping, though never saw service in that capacity.