The French destroyer Téméraire was one of four s that was built for the Argentine Navy in the early 1910s. The ships were taken over by the French Navy after the start of the First World War in August 1914. She was stricken in 1936 and subsequently scrapped.
Design and description The Aventurier-class ships were significantly larger and more heavily armed than other French destroyers of the period. The ships had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of . They displaced at normal load and at deep load. Their crew numbered 140 men.Smigielski, p. 204
The ships were powered by a pair of Rateau steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by five mixed-firing Foster-Wheeler boilers. The engines were designed to produce which was intended to give the ships a speed of . The ships carried of coal and of fuel oil that gave them a range of at a cruising speed of .Couhat, p. 117
The primary armament of the Aventurier-class ships consisted of four guns in single mounts, one on the forecastle, one between the funnels, and two on the quarterdeck, in front and behind the searchlight platform. They were fitted with a AA gun for anti-aircraft defence. The ships were also equipped with four single mounts for torpedo tubes amidships.
Construction and career Téméraire was ordered from Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne and was launched on 8 December 1911 with the name of San Juan at its Nantes shipyard. The ship was completed on 2 November 1914.
On 27 May 1915, Téméraire and her sister ship escorted the armored cruiser as she transported Vice-Admiral () Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, commander of the 1st Naval Army (), to Taranto, Italy, for a meeting with Admiral Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi (), Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Italian Navy ().Prévoteaux, I, p. 116 According to a British report of 5 June, Téméraire was tasked to patrol the area around Palermo, Sicily.Naval Staff Monograph No. 21, p. 158
She was stricken in 1936 and broken up for scrap.
Citations
References