French destroyer Fanfare
Fanfare was a Branlebas-class destroyer of the French Navy, built in Le Havre by Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand. It was laid down in November 1905, launched on 19 December 1907, and stricken on 28 September 1925.
Specifications:
- Displacement: about 350 tons
- Length: 58 m
- Beam: 6.28 m
- Draft: 2.96 m
- Propulsion: two shafts, two triple-expansion steam engines with Normand or Du Temple boilers
- Power: 6,800 ihp
- Speed: 27.5 knots
- Range: 2,100 nautical miles at 10 knots
- Crew: 60
- Armament: 1 × 65 mm gun, 6 × 47 mm Hotchkiss guns, 2 × 450 mm torpedo tubes
- Armor: 20 mm waterline belt
Fanfare was one of ten Branlebas-class destroyers. At the start of World War I in August 1914, it served with the 5th Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Naval Army. In the Battle of Antivari, the French destroyers escorted the main fleet while other groups chased the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Zenta and the destroyer SMS Ulan; Zenta was not sunk and Ulan was not captured. After this, a larger operation ferried troops to Antivari and bombarded the Austro-Hungarian base at Cattaro on 1 September, with the fleet evacuating Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro, to Corfu four days later. Fanfare and its flotilla continued convoy escort duties to Antivari through late 1914.
By February 1915, Fanfare and sister ships Poignard and Sabretache were with the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla blockading the Dardanelles to prevent the ex-German battlecruiser Goeben (Yavuz Sultan Selim) and the light cruiser Midilli from reaching the Mediterranean. On 16–17 February, Fanfare and Poignard helped scout Ottoman fortifications ahead of a planned bombardment on 19 February.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:00 (CET).