French destroyer Frondeur
Frondeur was a French Navy destroyer of the L’Adroit class, built in the late 1920s. It was ordered on 21 April 1927 and built at Chantiers Navals Français in Caen. The ship was laid down on 9 November 1927, launched on 20 June 1929 and completed on 20 October 1931. The L’Adroit class was a larger, improved version of the Bourrasque class.
Frondeur’s basic measurements were a length of 107.2 meters, a beam of 9.9 meters and a draft of 3.5 meters. It displaced about 1,380 tons at standard load. The ship was powered by two geared steam turbines, three du Temple boilers, and two propeller shafts, delivering some 31,000 horsepower for a top speed of 33 knots. It could travel about 3,000 nautical miles at 15 knots. The crew numbered 9 officers and 153 sailors in wartime.
Armament consisted of four 130 mm guns in single mounts (two fore and two aft), two 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, and two triple 550 mm torpedo tubes. For anti-submarine and ship-defense work, Frondeur carried depth charges (22 in total) deployed by chutes and throwers.
After France surrendered in 1940, Frondeur served with the Vichy French navy. It was at Casablanca in French Morocco during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion in November 1942, and was sunk by gunfire from the American cruiser USS Brooklyn in the Naval Battle of Casablanca.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:43 (CET).