French aviso Dumont d'Urville

Career (France)	French Navy
Name:	Dumont d'Urville
Namesake:	Dumont d'Urville
Builder:	At. et Ch. Maritime Sud-Ouest
Launched:	21 March 1931[1]
Fate:	Scrapped 26 March 1958[1]
General characteristics
Type:	Bougainville-class aviso
Displacement:	1,969 tons[1]
Length:	103.70 metres (340.2 ft)[1]
Beam:	12.98 metres (42.6 ft)[1]
Draught:	4.80 metres (15.7 ft)[1]
Propulsion:	2 Burmeister & Wain marine diesel engines, 3,200 shp[1]
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h)
Range:	13,000 nautical miles at 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph); 7,600 nautical miles at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph);[1] Fuel capacity: 297 tons[1]
Armament:	3 x 138 mm guns model 1927 in single mountings 4 x 37 mm anti-aircraft (AA) guns in single mountings 6 x 13.2 mm AA machine guns 50 naval mines[1]
Armour:	Bullet-proof plating of control positions (by 1944)
Aircraft carried:	1 seaplane until it was removed in 1941 to make way for 4 x 37 mm AA guns, 2 x 25 mm AA guns, 4 x 13.2 mm AA machine guns & 2 x 8 mm AA guns[2]

Dumont d'Urville was an Bougainville-class aviso of the French Navy, designed to operate from French colonies in Asia and Africa. She was built by Ateliers et Chantiers Maritime Sud-Ouest of Bordeaux and launched on 21 March 1931.^[1]

After the Fall of France Dumont d'Urville remained under Vichy French control and in September 1940 she was in New Caledonia as a part the Vichy government's attempt to gain control of the French colony. However, the Royal Australian Naval cruiser HMAS Adelaide (1918) arrived carrying a Free French temporary governor led the Vichy governor to depart aboard Dumont d'Urville on 25 September.^[3]

On the night of 16 –17 January 1941 Dumont d'Urville took partin the Battle of Koh Chang.^[4]

In September 1942 Dumont d'Urville took part in rescuing survivors from RMS Laconia which German submarine U-156 had torpedoed and sunk (the Laconia incident).^{[citation needed]}

By 1944 Dumont d'Urville's armament had been augmented with the addition of four single-mounted 40 mm anti-aircraft (AA) guns, 11 single-mounted 20 mm AA guns, four anti-submarine mortars and two racks for 66 depth charges.^[1]

Dumont d'Urville remained in French Navy service after the war until 26 March 1958 when she was scrapped.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Le Masson 1969, p. 12.
2. ^ Le Masson 1969, p. 11.
3. ^ Cassells1^{[clarification needed]}
4. ^ "La bataille de Koh Chang (janvier 1941)". Croiseur Lamotte-Picquet. Net-Marine. http://www.netmarine.net/bat/croiseur/lamotte/kohchang/. 

Sources

• Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy. Navies of the Second World War. 2. London: MacDonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.. ISBN 356 02385 X.