French destroyer Capitaine Mehl

Capitaine Mehl was one of a dozen Bouclier-class destroyers built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

History
France
Name: Capitaine Mehl
Builder: Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Saint-Nazaire
Laid down: 1910
Launched: 20 April 1912
Completed: 1912
Stricken: 10 July 1926
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type: Bouclier-class destroyer
Displacement: 720–756 t (709–744 long tons)
Length: 72.3–78.3 m (237 ft 2 in–256 ft 11 in) (o/a)
Beam: 7.6–8 m (24 ft 11 in–26 ft 3 in)
Draft: 2.9–3.3 m (9 ft 6 in–10 ft 10 in)
Installed power:
Propulsion: 2 shafts; 2 steam turbines
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range: 1,200–1,600 nmi (2,200–3,000 km; 1,400–1,800 mi) at 12–14 knots (22–26 km/h; 14–16 mph)
Complement: 80–83
Armament:

Design and description

The Bouclier class were designed to a general specification and varied significantly from each other in various ways.[1] The ships had an overall length of 74–78.3 meters (242 ft 9 in–256 ft 11 in), a beam of 7.6–8 meters (24 ft 11 in–26 ft 3 in), and a draft of 2.9–3.1 meters (9 ft 6 in–10 ft 2 in). Designed to displace 800 metric tons (787 long tons), they displaced 720–756 t (709–744 long tons) at normal load. Their crew numbered 80–83 men.[1]

The ships were powered by a pair of Parsons steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The engines were designed to produce 13,000 shaft horsepower (9,700 kW) which was intended to give the ships a speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). Capitaine Mehl handily exceed that speed, reaching 31.8 knots (58.9 km/h; 36.6 mph) during her sea trials. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 1,200–1,600 nautical miles (2,200–3,000 km; 1,400–1,800 mi) at cruising speeds of 12–14 knots (22–26 km/h; 14–16 mph).[2]

The primary armament of the Bouclier-class ships consisted of two 100-millimeter (3.9 in) Modèle 1893 guns in single mounts, one each fore and aft of the superstructure, and four 65-millimeter (2.6 in) Modèle 1902 guns distributed amidships. They were also fitted with two twin mounts for 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes amidships.[1]

During World War I, a 45-millimeter (1.8 in) or 75-millimeter (3 in) anti-aircraft gun, two 8-millimeter (0.31 in) machine guns, and eight or ten Guiraud-type depth charges were added to the ships. The extra weight severely overloaded the ships and reduced their operational speed to around 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph).[1]

Construction and career

Capitaine Mehl was ordered from Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire and was launched from its Saint-Nazaire shipyard on 20 April 1912. The ship was completed later that year.[3]

gollark: Well, you seem to be using it as a justification to allow/not allow things.
gollark: Also, I don't think stuff is *generally* regulated based on summing up long term expected happiness change or something? Perhaps it should be, but it's very hard to calculate and runs into problems, and (in my opinion as a libertarian-leaning person) leads to stuff which is "out of scope" of government actions.
gollark: You're stereotyping in some vaguely rude way with ~0 empirical data to back it up.
gollark: I suspect you're ridiculously overgeneralizing and/or, er, what's the word, patronising? a bunch of people.
gollark: "Benefit to society" is vague and seems to mostly just work as a bludgeon to complain about things which don't have some obvious and Morally Pure™ justification to exist.

References
  1. Gardiner & Gray, p. 203
  2. Couhat, pp. 101, 104
  3. Couhat, p. 104

Bibliography
  • Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
  • Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.