The French destroyer Cassard was one of six s () 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 ( (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.
Design and description
The Vauquelin-class ships were designed as improved versions of the preceding s. They had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of . The ships displaced at standard and at deep load. They were powered by two geared Rateau-Breguet steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four du Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ships at . During her sea trials on 26 August 1932, Cassards turbines provided and she reached for a single hour. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at . Their crew consisted of 10 officers and 201 crewmen in peacetime and 12 officers and 220 enlisted men in wartime.
The main armament of the Vauquelin-class ships consisted of five Modèle 1927 guns in single shielded mounts, one superfiring pair fore and aft of the superstructure and the fifth gun abaft the aft funnel. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of four Modèle 1927 guns in single mounts positioned amidships and two twin mounts for Hotchkiss Modèle 1929 anti-aircraft machineguns on the forecastle deck abreast the bridge. The ships carried two above-water twin mounts for torpedo tubes, one pair on each broadside between each pair of funnels as well as one triple mount aft of the rear pair of funnels able to traverse to both sides. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of sixteen depth charges, with eight more in reserve. They were also fitted with a pair of depth-charge throwers, one on each broadside abreast the aft funnels, for which they carried a dozen depth charges. The ships could be fitted with rails to drop 40 Breguet B4 mines.
Modifications
The depth-charge throwers were removed in 1936 and more 200-kilogram depth charges were carried in their place. The Navy reconsidered its anti-submarine warfare tactics after the war began in September and intended to reinstate the depth-charge throwers, although these were an older model than the one previously installed; Cassard received hers in May 1940 at Toulon. Her depth charge stowage now consisted of 24 heavy depth charges and 16 of the 100-kilogram ones. At the same time, a pair of Browning 13.2-millimeter AA machine guns were installed on the quarterdeck. During the ship's late-1941 anti-aircraft refit, the mainmast was replaced by a platform for a single 37-millimeter twin-gun mount and two of her single 37-millimeter mounts were transferred to the platform while the other two single mounts were removed. The Hotchkiss machine guns were moved to new platforms between the funnels and the Brownings were positioned in front of the bridge. Cassard received a British Alpha 128 ASDIC system in December 1941 that had been taken from another ship.
Construction and career
Cassard, named after the 17th-century commander Jacques Cassard, was ordered on 1 February 1930 from Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne as part of the 1929 Naval Program. She was laid down at their Nantes shipyard on 12 November 1930, launched on 8 November 1931, commissioned on 1 November 1932, completed on 10 September 1933, and entered service on 7 October. Her entry into service was delayed by six-month-long repairs to her main gearboxes.