French destroyer Typhon
Typhon was a Bourrasque-class destroyer in the French Navy, built in the 1920s. It served with France’s fleet and, after France’s surrender in 1940, with the Vichy French Navy.
Key facts
- Ordered: 5 March 1923
- Builder: Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde, Lormont
- Laid down: 1 September 1923
- Launched: 22 May 1925
- Completed: 27 June 1928
- Commissioned: 15 February 1928
- In service: 22 October 1928
- Fate: Scuttled 10 November 1942
Size and power
- Class: Bourrasque-class destroyer
- Displacement: 1,320 tons standard; 1,825 tons full load
- Length: 105.6 m (346 ft 5 in)
- Beam: 9.7 m (31 ft 10 in)
- Draft: 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in)
- Propulsion: Two geared steam turbines, three boilers, two shafts
- Power: 31,000 hp (about 23,000 kW)
- Speed: 33 knots (about 61 km/h)
- Range: 3,000 nautical miles at 15 knots
- Crew: 9 officers and 153 enlisted (wartime)
Armament
- Guns: Four 130 mm (5.1 in) guns in shielded mounts
- Anti-aircraft: One 75 mm (3 in) gun
- Torpedoes: Two triple 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes
- Depth charges: Two chutes carrying 16 depth charges
Service and actions in World War II
- In November 1942, Typhon was at Oran, French Algeria, with the 7th Destroyer Squadron of the Marine Nationale.
- 8 November 1942: Typhon sank the British cutter HMS Hartland in Oran harbor while American troops were being landed.
- Later on 8 November: Typhon, along with Tramontane and Tornade, tried to attack Allied ships at Arzew Bay, but came under heavy fire from the British cruiser HMS Aurora. Typhon fired six torpedoes at Aurora, but none hit. Tramontane was sunk; Tornade ran aground; Typhon returned to Oran with little ammunition and no torpedoes left.
- 9 November 1942: Typhon and the destroyer Epervier attacked again but were repelled by the British cruisers Jamaica and Aurora. Epervier was hit and beached; Typhon returned to Oran.
- 10 November 1942: Typhon was scuttled by her own crew at Oran to prevent capture.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:48 (CET).