Name Le Chevalier Paul Fate Sunk, 16 June 1941 Length 129 m | Namesake Chevalier Paul Draft 4.4 m (14 ft 5.2 in) Beam 12 m | |
Class and type Vauquelin-class destroyer Displacement 2,441 t (2,402 long tons) (standard)
3,120 t (3,070 long tons) (full load) Builder Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée | ||
Le Chevalier Paul was one of six Vauquelin-class destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) built for the French Navy during the 1930s.
After France surrendered to Germany in June 1940 during World War II, Le Chevalier Paul served in the naval forces of Vichy France. On 11 June 1941 she departed Toulon, France, bound for Beirut with a cargo of 800 rounds of 5.45-inch (140 mm) ammunition for Vichy French forces defending the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon from an invasion by the Allies. She passed the Greek island of Kastellorizo on 15 June and hugged the coast of Turkey to try to avoid detection or interception by British forces on Cyprus, but Allied signals intelligence had discovered that Germany had given permission for the voyage and a British reconnaissance aircraft found her at 18:15 on 15 June. Six British Cyprus-based Fleet Air Arm Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers attacked her at 03:00 the next morning and torpedoed her at the cost of one Swordfish shot down.
Le Chevalier Paul radioed for help, and the Vichy French destroyers Valmy and Guépard immediately departed Beirut to come to her aid, but were almost immediately intercepted by the New Zealand light cruiser Leander and the British destroyers Jervis and Kimberley and forced to retire to Beirut. After French aircraft drove off the Allied ships, Valmy and Guépard again set out to assist Le Chevalier Paul, but they were too late, the ship sank at 06:45 off the coast of Syria. Valmy and Guépard rescued her survivors and the crew of the downed Swordfish.