French destroyer La Combattante
{{other ships|French ship La Combattante|HMS Haldon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2013}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=La Combattante, New Destroyer For Fighting French Navy, Built in British Shipyards. 14 January 1943, La Combattante Has Been Launched in the Presence of Rear-admiral Auboyneau, C-in-c, Fighting French Navy. A13891.jpg |Ship caption=La Combattante in January 1943 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|UK|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Haldon |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Glasgow |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= 16 January 1941 |Ship launched= 27 April 1942 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed=30 December 1942 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |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=Pennant number: L19 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship fate=Transferred to Free French Navy in 1942 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country= Free France |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Free France|naval}} |Ship name=La Combattante |Ship namesake= |Ship acquired= 1 December 1942 |Ship commissioned= 15 December 1942 |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 honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Mined 23 February 1945 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=Type III {{sclass2|Hunt|destroyer}} |Ship displacement=1,050 tons standard; 1,435 tons full load |Ship length={{convert|85.3|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|10.16|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|3.51|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, {{convert|19000|shp|abbr=on}} |Ship speed={{convert|27|kn}} |Ship range={{convert|2350|nmi|km |
| 1|abbr=on}} at {{convert|20|kn|km/h|0}}
|Ship complement=168 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW=*Two radars (sea and air sentry)
|Ship armament=*4 × QF 4 in Mark XVI on twin mounts Mk. XIX
|Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
La Combattante ("The Combatant") was a destroyer{{efn|Designed as "torpilleur", literally "torpedo ship"}} of the Free French Naval Forces (FNFL). A British-built {{sclass2|Hunt|destroyer|1}}, she was offered to the Free French in 1942.
History
Laid down as HMS Haldon, she was damaged in a German night bombing on 14 March 1941. She was offered to the FNFL in 1942, and renamed La Combattante.
La Combattante made her first sortie in 23 March 1943, escorting a convoy in the English Channel. She rescued 68 sailors from the Liberty ship Stell Traveller, after the ship had struck a naval mine. On 29 May 1943, she rescued British and Australian aircrews; in September 1943, she rescued two British airmen.
During the night of 25–26 April 1944, La Combattante and the frigate {{HMS|Rowley|K560|6}} intercepted a group of German E-boats; La Combattante managed to sink {{ship|German torpedo boat|S 147}} and damage another ship. In the night of 12–13 May, La Combattante destroyed {{ship|German torpedo boat|S 141}}, killing Klaus Dönitz, Admiral Dönitz's son in the process. During the night of 27–28 May La Combattante met motor torpedo boats MTB-732 and MTB-739; the two groups mistakenly engaged each other, and MTB-732 was sunk.
Under commandant André Patou, La Combattante took part in Operation Neptune, providing close fire support to the landing parties during the Battle of Normandy off Courseulles-sur-Mer. She stayed {{convert|3000|m}} off the beach, in {{convert|4|m}} deep waters, as she shelled shore batteries; at one point she ran aground, and {{HMS|Venus|R50|6}} morsed "I am happy that a French be the first to touch the ground of France". La Combattante destroyed several shore batteries, until troops started landing on the beach. She then returned to Portsmouth, escorting a landing ship dock. On 25 June 1944 La Combattante rescued two downed US pilots.
La Combattante kept escorting convoys in the Channel between France and England until 14 July 1944, when she was ordered to the King's Stairs of Portsmouth harbour; awaiting the ship's arrival were General Charles de Gaulle, Generals Béthouart and Koenig, Admiral d'Argenlieu, Gaston Palewski, Pierre Viénot, Pierre Billotte, François Coulet, Pierre de Chevigné, Geoffroy de Courcel, Pierre Laroque and Claude Hettier de Boislambert, preparing to cross the English Channel to Normandy{{efn|It seems that the proper orders had not been given, which resulted in the following conversation:
}}— Commandant Patou: I assume you wish to go to France, General?
— General de Gaulle: Did you not receive your orders?
— Patou: No General, but it does not matter, we already know the way.
— Admiral d'Argenlieu: Off to Normandy![http://www.grieme.org/comb.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206233828/http://www.grieme.org/comb.htm |date=6 February 2012 }}
The delegation also carried a 250-million franc treasure to counter introduction of the US occupation franc. One of the most famous photographs of De Gaulle was taken aboard during the journey,[http://beaucoudray.free.fr/degaulle.JPG photograph] aboard La Combattante before he landed at Courseulles[http://expositions.bnf.fr/afp/grand/193.htm AFP] from where he made a speech in Bayeux which established with the allies his popularity with the French and played a large part in the failure of American plans to militarily govern France.
La Combattante further patrolled the Channel. In the night of 25–26 August 1944, she sank four German ships ferrying an artillery unit.
On 23 February 1945, an explosion broke La Combattante in two and she sank quickly, with 117 survivors of her 181-man crew. Allied sources stated the ship had sunk after hitting a mine. On the German side, a Kriegsmarine bulletin reported that La Combattante was destroyed at 10.28 a.m. on 24 February by two torpedoes fired by {{GS|U-5330||2}}, a German midget submarine of the Seehund type commanded by lieutenant Klaus Sparbrodt, approximately {{convert|8|km}} off the South-Fall Bank. Sparbrodt was decorated for his alleged success. The ship sunk by Sparbrodt was in fact the British cable layer {{ship|CS|Alert|1918|6}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/ops/midget.htm |title=Midget submarine operations |website=uboat.net |access-date=19 September 2015}}
Notes
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References
{{reflist}}
Publications
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- English, John (1987). The Hunts: a history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II. England: World Ship Society. {{ISBN|0-905617-44-4}}.
External links
- {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20120206233828/http://www.grieme.org/comb.htm LA COMBATTANTE]
- {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.netmarine.net/f/bat/combatan/ancien.htm netmarine.net]
{{Hunt class destroyer|type3}}
{{February 1945 shipwrecks}}
{{coord|53.3703|N|1.0278|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Combattante}}
Category:Hunt-class destroyers of the Free French Naval Forces
Category:Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy
Category:Maritime incidents in February 1945
Category:Naval ships of Operation Neptune
Category:Ships built on the River Clyde
Category:World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom