&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:Vauquelin_1934_NH_93317.jpg) Vauquelin in 1934
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Vauquelin |
| Namesake | Jean Vauquelin |
| Ordered | 1 February 1930 |
| Builder | Ateliers et Chantiers de France, Dunkirk |
| Laid down | 13 March 1930 |
| Launched | 29 September 1932 |
| Completed | 3 November 1933 |
| Commissioned | 1 June 1933 |
| In service | 28 March 1934 |
| Fate | Scuttled, 27 November 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Vauquelin-class destroyer |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 129.3 m (424 ft 3 in) |
| Beam | 11.8 m (38 ft 9 in) |
| Draft | 4.97 m (16 ft 4 in) |
| Installed power |
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| 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, 224 crewmen (wartime) |
| Armament |
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The French destroyer Vauquelin was the lead ship of her class of six large destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) built for the French Navy (Marine Nationale) during the 1930s. The ship entered service in 1934 and spent most of her career in the Mediterranean. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, she was one of the ships that helped to enforce the non-intervention agreement. When France declared war on Germany in September 1939, all of the Vauquelins were assigned to the High Sea Forces (Forces de haute mer (FHM)) which was tasked to escort French convoys and support the other commands as needed. Vauquelin escorted a pair of heavy cruisers to French West Africa, but otherwise remained in the Mediterranean for the duration of the war.
The Vichy French reformed the FHM after the French surrender in June. She ferried ammunition to French Lebanon after it was invaded by the Allied forces in June 1941 and then unsuccessfully attempted to transport reinforcements there the following month. Vauquelin was scuttled in Toulon when the Germans occupied Vichy France in November 1942. Damaged during an Allied air raid, the ship was not significantly salvaged during the war and her wreck was broken up in 1951.