French destroyer Le Hardi

Le Hardi at anchor
History
France
NameLe Hardi
Namesake"the bold one"
BuilderAteliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Nantes
Laid down20 May 1936
Launched4 May 1938
Completed31 May 1940
Commissioned1 December 1939
In service2 June 1940
Fate
  • Scuttled, 27 November 1942, raised by Italians, seized by Germans
  • Scuttled at Genoa, April 1945
General characteristics
Class and typeLe Hardi-class destroyer
Displacement
Length117.2 m (384 ft 6 in) (o/a)
Beam11.1 m (36 ft 5 in)
Draft3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range3,100 nautical miles (5,700 km; 3,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement187 officers and enlisted men
Armament

Le Hardi ("the bold one") was the lead ship of her class of destroyers (torpilleur d'escadre) built for the Marine Nationale (French Navy) during the late 1930s. The ship was completed during the Battle of France in mid-1940 and her first mission was to help escort an incomplete battleship to French Morocco only days before the French signed an armistice with the Germans. She played a minor role in the Battle of Dakar in September, mostly laying smoke screens. Le Hardi helped to escort one of the battleships damaged by the British during their July attack on Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, back to France in November. She was reduced to reserve in mid-1942.

When the Germans occupied Vichy France after the Allies landed in French North Africa in November 1942 and tried to seize the French fleet, the destroyer was one of the ships scuttled to prevent their capture. She was salvaged by the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) in 1943, but was captured by the Germans after the Italian armistice in September. Unrepaired, the ship was scuttled by them in 1945 in Italy and later scrapped.