French cruiser Primauguet (1924)
{{other ships|French ship Primauguet}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Croiseur Primauguet Goybet.jpg |Ship caption=Primauguet }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=France |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|France|naval}} |Ship name=Primauguet |Ship namesake=Hervé de Portzmoguer |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Arsenal de Brest |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=16 August 1923 |Ship launched=21 May 1924 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=1 April 1927 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Destroyed in harbour, 8 November 1942 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|Duguay-Trouin|cruiser}} |Ship displacement=*7,249 tons (standard)
|Ship length={{convert|181.30|m|ftin|abbr=on}} overall |Ship beam={{convert|17.50|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|6.14|m|ftin|abbr=on}}, {{convert|6.30|m|ftin|abbr=on}} full load |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=4-shaft Parsons single-reduction geared turbines; 8 Guyot boilers; {{convert|102,000|shp|lk=in|abbr=on}} |Ship speed={{convert|33|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range={{convert|3000|nmi|lk=on}} at {{convert|15|kn}} |Ship complement=27 officers, 551 sailors |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*Initial
|Ship armour=* Deck: {{convert|20|mm|in|abbr=on}}
| |Ship aircraft=*2 Gourdou-Leseurre GL-812, later GL-832
|Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
Primauguet was a French {{sclass|Duguay-Trouin|cruiser|0}} light cruiser built after World War I. During the Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa in 1942, she was burnt out and abandoned, having been subject to gunfire from a fleet led by the battleship {{USS|Massachusetts|BB-59|2}}, and repeated aerial attacks by SBD Dauntless dive bombers. She was named after the 15th century Breton captain Hervé de Portzmoguer, nicknamed "Primauguet".
Design and description
The design of the Duguay-Trouin class was based on an improved version of a 1915 design, but was reworked with more speed and a more powerful armament to match the British {{sclass|E|cruiser|0}} and the American {{sclass|Omaha|cruiser|0}} light cruisers. The ships had an overall length of {{convert|175.3|m|ftin|sp=us}}, a beam of {{convert|17.2|m|ftin|sp=us|0}}, and a draft of {{convert|5.3|m|ftin|sp=us}}. They displaced {{convert|8000|LT|t|0|disp=flip|sp=us|lk=on}} at standard load and {{cvt|9655|t|LT}} at deep load. Their crew consisted of 591 men when serving as flagships.Jordan & Moulin, p. 30
Service
Primauguet was commissioned in April 1927 and immediately commenced a seven-month world cruise, returning in mid-December. The pattern of extended cruises was maintained until April 1932, when she was stationed in the Far East until a refit in January 1936. The Far East posting was resumed in November 1937 until she was relieved by the cruiser {{ship|French cruiser|Suffren||2}} and returned to France.
The first months of World War II were spent on Atlantic patrols, convoy escort and surveillance of Axis shipping. On 1 April 1940, she sailed for Fort-de-France in the West Indies, to replace the cruiser {{ship|French cruiser|Jeanne d'Arc|1930|2}}. She operated in Dutch West Indies waters, intercepting merchant ships. On 6 May 1940, Primauguet, under the command of Vessel Captain Pierre Goybet, relieved the British sloop {{HMS|Dundee|L84|2}} off Aruba and, at the Dutch surrender, she landed forces to secure the oil installations. Primauguet returned to Dakar on 12 June 1940, after the French surrender .{{Cite web|url=https://naval-encyclopedia.com/ww2/france/duguay-trouin-class-cruisers.php|title=Duguay-Trouin class cruisers|first=naval|last=encyclopedia|date=April 3, 2016|website=naval encyclopedia}}
Primauguet remained with the Vichy French Navy. She brought a part of the French Gold Reserve of Banque de France in Africa. Primauguet was at Dakar in July 1940 during the Royal Navy's attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir.https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/5985.html
She was sent to escort an oiler in support of three {{sclass|La Galissonnière|cruiser|2}}s of the 4th Squadron. They were on an operation to Libreville, in French Equatorial Africa, to counter Free French activity. In the Bight of Benin, the French force was intercepted by the British cruisers {{HMS|Cornwall|56|2}} and {{HMS|Delhi|I74|2}}. After negotiations, Primauguet was ordered to turn back to Casablanca by Admiral Bourague, aboard {{ship|French cruiser|Georges Leygues||2}}.
File:French destroyer Albatros and other ships at Casablanca in December 1942.jpg wrecked at Casablanca, December 1942]]
On 8 November 1941, she began a refit in Casablanca and was not fully operational when the Naval Battle of Casablanca began exactly one year later. During this unequal engagement, she was shelled by the largest ships of the opposing American forces, the US battleship {{USS|Massachusetts|BB-59|2}} and the 8-inch cruisers {{USS|Wichita|CA-45|2}}, {{USS|Tuscaloosa|CA-37|2}} and {{USS|Augusta|CA-31|2}}, as well as the 6-inch cruiser {{USS|Brooklyn|CL-40|2}}. She was also subject to four waves of aerial attack by Douglas Dauntless dive-bombers from the aircraft carrier {{USS|Ranger|CV-4|6}}, which claimed six direct hits.Jordan & Moulin, p. 189Shores & Massimello, pp. 74–75
Massively outmatched by the opposing firepower, she was badly damaged and suffered many casualties. The ship dropped anchor in shallow water and later went aground where she burnt through the night. Her wreck was sold in 1951, and scrapped in place.
Notes
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==Bibliography==
{{commons category|Primauguet (ship, 1924)}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Guiglini|first1=Jean|last2=Moreau|first2=Albert|title=French Light Cruisers: The First Light Cruisers of the 1922 Naval Program, Part 1|journal=Warship International|date=2001|volume=XXXVIII|issue=3 |pages=269–299 |issn=0043-0374|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Guiglini |first1=Jean|last2=Moreau|first2=Albert |title=French Light Cruisers: The First Light Cruisers of the 1922 Naval Program, Part 2|journal=Warship International |date=2001 |volume=XXXVIII |issue=4 |pages=355–390 |issn=0043-0374|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book|last1=Jordan|first1=John|last2=Moulin|first2=Jean|title=French Cruisers 1922–1956 |year=2013|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84832-133-5 |name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book |last=O'Hara |first=Vincent P. |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmO1CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA216 |title=Torch: North Africa and the Allied Path to Victory |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-61251922-7}}
- {{cite book |last1=Shores |first1=Christopher |last2= Massimello |first2=Giovanni |author3=with Russell Guest, Frank Olynyk and Winfried Bock |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6o6eDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |title=A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940-1945. Volume Three: Tunisia and the End in Africa, November 1942 - May 1943 |publisher=Grub Street Publishing |isbn=9781910690000}}
- {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia|publisher=Cassell|location=London|year=1995|isbn=1-86019-874-0|authorlink=Michael J. Whitley}}
{{Duguay-Trouin class cruisers}}
{{November 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Primauguet (1923)}}
Category:Duguay-Trouin-class cruisers
Category:Ships built in France