&sq=&lang=&file=File:Vauquelin_1934_NH_93317.jpg) Sister ship Vauquelin, about 1934
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Cassard |
| Namesake | Jacques Cassard |
| Ordered | 1 February 1930 |
| Builder | Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne, Nantes |
| Laid down | 12 November 1930 |
| Launched | 8 November 1931 |
| Completed | 10 September 1933 |
| Commissioned | 1 November 1932 |
| In service | 7 October 1933 |
| 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 Cassard was one of six Vauquelin-class destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) built for the French Navy during the 1930s. The ship entered service in 1933 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. Cassard was briefly deployed to search for German commerce raiders and blockade runners in late 1939 and early 1940, but returned to the Mediterranean in time to participate in Operation Vado, a bombardment of Italian coastal facilities after Italy entered the war in June.
The Vichy French reformed the FHM after the French surrender in June. The ship was scuttled in Toulon when the Germans occupied Vichy France in November 1942. She was not significantly salvaged during the war and her wreck was broken up in 1950.