L'Audacieux

History: L'Audacieux was launched on 14 March 1934, and commissioned on 8 August 1936. The Le Fantasque-class destroyers were assigned to the Force de Raid when war was declared. In October 1939, with her sister ships Le Terrible and Le Fantasque, the L'Audacieux captured the German cargo ship Santa Fé and took part in the pursuit of the "pocket battleship" Graf Spee. In November and December of the same year, she also conducted patrols in the North Atlantic.

In March 1940, she took part in anti-submarine patrols in the Mediterranean, from her base at Casablanca. In May of the same year, L'Audacieux was attacked by German planes several times, but was not hit. On 29 May, after taking part in Operation Dynamo, L'Audacieux collided with the destroyers Frondeur and Boulonnais off Dunkerque, and was sent for repairs in Brest until 13 June. On 18 June, L'Audacieux, together with Léopard and Courbet, patrolled Cherbourg. On 3 July, L'Audacieux took part in the battle of Mers-el-Kebir, engaging British aircraft. She attempted to launch torpedo attacks on British heavy fleet units, but was retired to cover Strasbourg during her retreat to Toulon. On 23 September, she took part in the Battle of Dakar; after being heavily damaged by gunfire from HMAS Australia, she had to be beached. She was refloated in February 1941; however, she was too badly damaged for repair and was immobilized as a training hulk.

Class: The Le Fantasque class of six large, very fast destroyers (also referred to as the Malin class) was ordered under the French naval programme of 1930. They served in World War II for both Vichy France and the Free French Forces.

The original purpose of these large French destroyers, and the earlier Chacal class, was to operate with battleship and cruiser forces, although they were not restricted to this. The Italian Navy, the Regia Marina, reacted by building the Capitani Romani-class cruisers. The class was assigned to the Force de Raid when war was declared. Those ships that later sailed with the Allies were classed as light cruisers.

Nationality: France is one of Europe’s largest countries. It is bordered by six countries other nations: Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the southeast and Spain to the southwest. The United Kingdom borders France via the English Channel. The country is considered to be the gateway to Europe as there are several large international airports (two of these can be found in Paris), ferry terminals and the French rail service.

In 486, Frankish tribes unified under Merovingian kingship. In 843, Western Francia was established from the division of the Carolingian Empire. In 1789, the French monarchy was overthrown, and in 1792, the First French Republic was founded. In 1958, the Fifth French Republic was established.