Épervier

History: The French destroyer Vautour was one of six Aigle-class destroyer (contre-torpilleurs) built for the French Navy in the interwar period. On 9 November 1942, she was sunk by HMS Aurora off Oran. She was raised, and eventually broken up in 1946.

Class: The Aigle-class destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) were built for the French navy during the 1920s. They were very similar to the previous Guepard class, the only difference being improved machinery with higher pressure boilers, offering an additional 0.5 knots (0.93 km/h; 0.58 mph) of speed and a new model 138 mm gun with a sliding breech block giving a higher rate of fire. The ships were named after birds.

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.