Maillé-Brézé is a (escorteur d'escadre) built for the French Navy during the 1950s. She is now a museum ship in Nantes.
Design and description The T 47-class ships were designed as enlarged and improved versions of the wartime intended to serve as squadron escorts (Escorteur d'escadre). As built, the vessels had standard displacement of and at deep load. They measured long overall with a beam and a draught of . They were propelled by a pair of Rateau geared steam turbines, each driving one Propeller shaft using steam provided by four Indret boilers The turbines were rated at , enough to give the ships a maximum speed of . They had enough fuel oil to give them a range of at .Jordan 1995, p. 110
The T 47s were designed for fleet anti-aircraft warfare (AA) with a main battery of French-designed Model 1948 dual-purpose guns, which enabled them to use standard U.S. ammunition. The guns were mounted in three twin-gun turrets, one mount forward of the superstructure and a superfiring pair aft. The secondary armament consisted of AA guns in three twin turrets. One of these was positioned behind the forward 127 mm turret, firing over it; the other two turrets were located aft of the rear funnel, one on each side of the superstructure. In addition, the T 47s were equipped with four Oerlikon AA guns, one pair on the bridge wings and the others positioned between the rear funnel and the rear 57 mm turrets. The anti-submarine warfare (ASW) armament consisted of four triple banks of torpedo tubes, two on each broadside. These forward pair housed K2 unguided ASW torpedoes and each launcher was provided a set of reloads.Jordan 2020, p. 183 The aft pair could fire either K2 torpedoes or M1923DT anti-ship torpedoes.
The ships were equipped with French sonars DUBV 1 and DUBA 1 mounted on the hull. They were fitted with twin tripods carrying a DRBV 11 combined surface and air-search radar and a DRBV 20A early-warning radar. They also carried a DRBC 11 surface gunnery radar and a DRBC 30 anti-aircraft radar. The main armament was guided by a single fire control director, with a second slotted aft for the 57 mm guns. The ships had a complement of 347.
Construction and career She was laid down by the Arsenal de Lorient on 9 October 1953, launched on 2 July 1955 and commissioned on 4 May 1957.
On 2 March 1962, Maillé-Brézé, along with another four destroyers, landed fresh troops at Algiers to fight the OAS uprising.Labour research, Volume 51, p. 112. Labour Research Department, 1962 Assisted by her sister ship , she was about to shell the OAS-held quarter of Bab-el-Oued when a counter-order called the operation off. The destroyers instead took battle stations close to the shore as a deterrent.
In 1988, she was decommissioned and became a museum ship in Nantes. She has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since October 1991.
On 21 February 2016, director Christopher Nolan announced plans to feature the ship in his then upcoming World War II film Dunkirk.
In 2025, the ship was chosen to host a pop-up event celebrating the 7th anniversary of the English/worldwide release of Azur Lane, a mobile game that features anthropomorphic "shipgirls" including Maillé-Brézé's previous Vauqelin-class incarnation.
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References
External links
Maillé-Brézé naval museum, Nantes Roll of Honour