French destroyer Le Chevalier Paul

Half-sister Milan at anchor
History
France
Name:	Le Chevalier Paul
Namesake:	Chevalier Paul
Fate:	Sunk, 16 June 1941
General characteristics
Class and type:	Vauquelin-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,441 t (2,402 long tons) (standard) 3,120 t (3,070 long tons) (full load)
Length:	129.3 m (424 ft 2.6 in)
Beam:	11.8 m (38 ft 8.6 in)
Draft:	4.4 m (14 ft 5.2 in)
Installed power:	64,000 PS (47,000 kW; 63,000 shp) 4 du Temple boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts 2 geared steam turbines
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range:	3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Crew:	12 officers, 220 crewmen (wartime)
Armament:	5 × single 138.6 mm (5.5 in) guns 4 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) anti-aircraft guns 2 × twin 13.2 mm (0.5 in) anti-aircraft machineguns 1 × triple, 2 × twin 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes 2 chutes for 16 depth charges 40 mines

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

After France surrendered to Germany in June 1940 during World War II, Le 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.^[1] 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.

Le Chevalier Paul radioed for help, and the Vichy French destroyers Valmy and Guépard immediately departed Beirut to come to her aid, but were almost immediately intercepted by the New Zealand light cruiser Leander and the British destroyers Jervis and Kimberley and forced to retire to Beirut. After French aircraft drove off the Allied ships, Valmy and Guépard again set out to assist Le 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.^[2]

Notes

References

• Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7. 
• Jordan, John & Moulin, Jean (2015). French Destroyers: Torpilleurs d'Escadre & Contre-Torpilleurs 1922–1956. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-198-4. 
• Saibène, Marc (n.d.). Toulon et la Marine 1942-1944. Bourg en Bresse: Marines Editions at Realisations. 
• O'Hara, Vincent P. (2013). Struggle for the Middle Sea. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-408-6. 
• Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.