French destroyer Enseigne Henry. Enseigne Henry was one of seven s built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

Design and description
The Spahi-class was over 50 percent larger than the preceding  to match the increase in size of foreign destroyers. Enseigne Henry had a length between perpendiculars of , a beam of , and a draft of . The ships displaced  at deep load. Their crew numbered 77–79 officers and men.

Enseigne Henry was powered by two triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by four Guyot boilers. The engines were designed to produce  which was intended to give the Spahi class a speed of . During her sea trials, Enseigne Henry reached a speed of . The ships carried enough coal to give them a range of  at a cruising speed of .

The primary armament of the Spahi-class ships consisted of six  Modèle 1902 guns in single mounts, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and the others were distributed amidships. They were also fitted with three  torpedo tubes. One of these was in a fixed mount in the bow and the other two were on single rotating mounts amidships.

Construction and career
Enseigne Henry was ordered from the Arsenal de Rochefort and was launched on 12 May 1911. She was completed in April 1912. 

When the First World War began in August 1914, Enseigne Henry was assigned to the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla () of the 1st Naval Army (). During the preliminary stages of the Battle of Antivari, Montenegro, on 16 August, the 1st, 4th and 5th Destroyer Flotillas were tasked to escort the core of the 1st Naval Army while the 2nd, 3rd and 6th Flotillas escorted the armored cruisers of the 2nd Light Squadron () and two British cruisers. After reuniting both groups and spotting the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser  and the destroyer , the French destroyers played no role in sinking the cruiser, although the 4th Flotilla was sent on an unsuccessful pursuit of Ulan. Having broken the Austro-Hungarian blockade of Antivari (now known as Bar), Vice-Admiral () Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, commander of the 1st Naval Army, decided to ferry troops and supplies to the port, escorted by the 2nd Light Squadron and the 1st and 6th Destroyer Flotillas while the rest of the 1st Naval Army bombarded the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro, Montenegro, on 1 September. Four days later, the fleet covered the evacuation of Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro to the Greek island of Corfu. Having broken the Austro-Hungarian blockade of Antivari (now known as Bar), Vice-Admiral () Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, commander of the 1st Naval Army, decided to ferry troops and supplies to the port, escorted by the 2nd Light Squadron and the 1st and 6th Destroyer Flotillas while the rest of the 1st Naval Army bombarded the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro, Montenegro, on 1 September. Four days later, the fleet covered the evacuation of Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro to the Greek island of Corfu. The flotilla escorted multiple small convoys loaded with supplies and equipment to Antivari, beginning in October and lasting for the rest of the year, always covered by the larger ships of the Naval Army in futile attempts to lure the Austro-Hungarian fleet into battle. The 2nd Flotilla bombarded Stončica Lighthouse on the island of Lissa on 19 September. The flotilla escorted multiple small convoys loaded with supplies and equipment to Antivari, beginning in October and lasting for the rest of the year, always covered by the larger ships of the Naval Army in futile attempts to lure the Austro-Hungarian fleet into battle. The Naval Army raided Lissa and the island of Lastovo on 2 November with the destroyer  entering Vis harbor and extorting a ransom from the townsmen lest the French bombard the town. As they departed, the French shelled the lighthouse again.

The torpedoing of the  on 21 December caused a change in French tactics as the battleships were too important to risk to submarine attack. Henceforth, only the destroyers would escort the transports, covered by cruisers at a distance of  from the transports. The first convoy of 1915 to Antivari arrived on 11 January and more were made until the last one on 20–21 April. After Italy signed the Treaty of London and declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 23 May, the ship was still assigned to the 2nd Flotilla when the unit was transferred to the 1st Division of Destroyers and Submarines () of the 2nd Squadron () based at Brindisi, Italy. According to a British report of 5 June, Enseigne Henry and her sister  were assigned to patrol the eastern coast of Sicily.

References

Bibliography

 
 

Spahi-class destroyers
Ships built in France
1911 ships