page_title: French destroyer Vauquelin (1931)
section_title: Construction and career
hierarchical_section_title: French destroyer Vauquelin (1931) / Construction and career
caption_attribution_description: The French destroyer Vauquelin sliding down the ways during her launching, at the Dunkirk (Dunkerque) shipyard of Ateliers et Chantiers de France, 29 March 1931. A large floating drydock is in the right background. .
context_page_description: The French destroyer Vauquelin was the lead ship of her class of six large destroyers built for the French Navy during the 1930s. The ship entered service in 1934 and spent most of her career in the Mediterranean. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, she was one of the ships that helped to enforce the non-intervention agreement. When France declared war on Germany in September 1939, all of the Vauquelins were assigned to the High Sea Forces which was tasked to escort French convoys and support the other commands as needed. Vauquelin escorted a pair of heavy cruisers to French West Africa, but otherwise remained in the Mediterranean for the duration of the war.
  The Vichy French reformed the FHM after the French surrender in June. She ferried ammunition to French Lebanon after it was invaded by the Allied forces in June 1941 and then unsuccessfully attempted to transport reinforcements there the following month. Vauquelin was scuttled in Toulon when the Germans occupied Vichy France in November 1942. Damaged during an Allied air raid, the ship was not significantly salvaged during the war and her wreck was broken up in 1951.
context_section_description: Vauquelin, named after Jean Vauquelin, was ordered on 1 February 1930 from Ateliers et Chantiers de France as part of the 1929 Naval Program. She was laid down at their Dunkirk shipyard on 13 March 1930, launched on 29 September 1932, commissioned on 3 November 1933 and entered service on 28 March 1934. Her entry into service was delayed for several months by a damaged propeller and she then struck a rock during her sea trials that damaged her hull plating for a length of 40 m (131 ft).
  When the Vauquelins entered service they were assigned to the 5th and the newly formed 6th Light Divisions (Division légère (DL)) which were later redesignated as scout divisions (Division de contre-torpilleurs). Vauquelin and her sister ships Kersaint and Maillé Brézé were assigned to the 6th DL of the 2nd Light Squadron (2ᵉ Escadre légère of the 2nd Squadron (2ᵉ Escadre), based in Brest. From 5 August to 23 September 1934, Vauquelin visited Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Halifax and Quebec to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the explorer Jacques Cartier's first visit to Canada. Shortly after her return, the 6th DL was transferred to the group of large destroyers (Groupe de contre-torpilleurs (GCT) of the 1st Squadron (1ᵉ Escadre) in Toulon in October and it was renumbered as the 9th. On 27 June 1935, all of the Vauquelins, except Cassard, participated in a naval review conducted by the Navy Minister (Ministre de la Marine) François Piétri in the Baie de Douarnenez after combined maneuvers by the 1st and 2nd Squadrons.
  After the start of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936, the contre-torpilleurs and destroyers in the Mediterranean were assigned to assist French citizens in Spain and to patrol the surveillance zones assigned to France on a monthly rotation beginning on 24 September as part of the non-intervention agreement. The GCT reverted to its previous designation of the 3rd Light Squadron on 15 September. As of 1 October Vauquelin, Tartu and Le Chevalier Paul were assigned to the 5th Light Division while Kersaint, Maillé Brézé and Cassard belonged to the 9th, both of which were assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron as the 1st Squadron was now known. In May–June 1938 the Mediterranean Squadron cruised the Eastern Mediterranean; the squadron was redesignated as the Mediterranean Fleet (Flotte de la Méditerranée) on 1 July 1939.
  On 27 August 1939, in anticipation of war with Nazi Germany, the French Navy planned to reorganize the Mediterranean Fleet into the FHM of three squadrons. When France declared war on 3 September, the reorganization was ordered and the 3rd Light Squadron, which included the 5th and 9th Scout Divisions with all of the Vauquelin-class ships, was assigned to the 3rd Squadron. In mid-October Vauquelin and Maillé Brézé escorted the heavy cruisers Algérie and Dupleix to Dakar, French West Africa, and then escorted a convoy back home. The 5th Scout Division with Vauquelin, Le Chevalier Paul and Tartu was tentatively assigned to Force Z that would have been formed in early 1940 to support the Finns during the Winter War against the Soviets if the Finns hadn't been forced to sign the Moscow Peace Treaty in March. Three days after the French surrender on 22 June, all of the Vauquelins were stationed in Toulon, except for Kersaint in Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria.
  The Vichy French government reestablished the FHM on 25 September after it negotiated rules limiting the force's activities and numbers with the  Italian and German Armistice Commissions. Vauquelin, Tartu and Le Chevalier Paul were assigned to the FHM on 15 November. After the Allies invaded Lebanon and Syria on 8 June 1941, Admiral François Darlan, Minister of War and National Defense in the Vichy government, ordered Le Chevalier Paul to carry ammunition for the French ships in Beirut, French Lebanon, departing on 11 June. He had requested permission to do so via radio message which the British decoded and alerted them to the ship's mission and route. Le Chevalier Paul was sunk during the early morning of 16 June by torpedo bombers based in Cyprus and Vauquelin
caption: Vauquelin being launched, 29 September 1932
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