Bourrasque-class destroyer
The "Bourrasque" class was a group of twelve French Navy destroyers ("torpilleur") laid down in 1923 and in service from 1926 to 1950. Along with the heavier , they were part of a plan to modernise the French fleet after the First World War. The "Bourrasque"s were smaller and slower than the "Chacal"s, but were nonetheless comparable with the British W class. The class saw varied service in the Second World War, in five different navies, on both sides. These ships were named after types of wind. The design was used as the basis for the two s  built for the Polish Navy during the late 1920s. Design and description. The "Bourrasque" class had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of . The ships displaced at (standard) load and at deep load. They were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three du Temple boilers. The turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ship at . The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at . The main armament of the "Bourrasque"-class ships consisted of four Canon de Modèle 1919 guns in shielded  single mounts, one superfiring pair each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of a single Canon de Modèle 1924 gun. The ships carried two triple mounts of torpedo tubes amidships. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern that housed a total of sixteen depth charges. Service. Four ships of the class - "Bourrasque", "Cyclone", "Orage" and "Sirocco" - were lost in 1940; "Orage" on 23 May, sunk by German bombers; "Bourasque" by German mines and artillery fire on 30 May while evacuating troops from Dunkirk; "Sirocco" on 31 May, to German torpedo  boats while engaged in the same operation; and "Cyclone", having been badly damaged on 30 May by torpedo boats was scuttled at Brest on 18 June to prevent her capture. "Mistral" and were captured by the British in Plymouth harbour on 3 July 1940 during Operation Catapult. Both were eventually transferred to the Free French. Somewhat circuitously, "Ouragan" was first transferred to the Free Polish Navy. Both survived the war. "Tornade" and "Tramontaine" were lost in the same engagement off Oran on 8 November 1942, against allied units protecting Operation Torch. "Typhon" was scuttled in Oran harbour to stop her  being acquired by the Allies. "Simoun" and "Tempête", based at Casablanca, joined the Allies in November 1942. They may have joined the battleship in engaging the Allied 'Covering Group', a taskforce based on the battleship . "Trombe" was the only ship of the class to be scuttled at Toulon in November 1942 alongside much of the French Navy. She was later raised, commissioned into the Italian Navy as "FR31", and then re-transferred to the Free French on 28 October 1943. This destroyer was crippled (constructive total loss) by a fascist Italian MTM explosive motorboat on 17 April 1945 in the  Gulf of Genoa.