Name Albatros Class and type Aigle-class destroyer Launched 27 June 1930 Draft 4.4 m | Namesake Albatross Beam 11.8 m (38 ft 9 in) Length 128 m | |
Fate Scrapped, 9 September 1959 Displacement 2,441 t (2,402 long tons) (standard)
3,140 t (3,090 long tons) (full load) | ||
The French destroyer Albatros was one of four Aigle-class destroyer (contre-torpilleurs) built for the French Navy during the 1920s.
During World War II, on 14 June 1940 she participated in Operation Vado, a raid of French cruisers and destroyers from Toulon to bombard Italian targets at Genoa and Savona; the coastal battery "Mameli" struck her with one 152 mm (6 in) round, which penetrated her fire-room and killed twelve sailors. After France surrendered to Germany, Albatros served with the naval forces of Vichy France. She was at Casablanca in French Morocco when Allied forces invaded French North Africa in Operation Torch in November 1942. Resisting the invasion, she was badly damaged off Casablanca on 8 November 1942 in action with United States Navy forces during the Naval Battle of Casablanca when she came under fire from the heavy cruisers USS Augusta, USS Wichita, and USS Tuscaloosa and then was bombed by aircraft from the escort carrier USS Suwanee. Badly damaged, she was beached to prevent her from sinking. After World War II, she was repaired and returned to service.