 Savorgnan de Brazza, c. 1937
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
  France | |
| Name | Savorgnan de Brazza |
| Namesake | Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza |
| Ordered | 1929 Naval Estimates |
| Builder | AC maritimes du Sud-Ouest, Bordeaux |
| Laid down | 6 December 1929 |
| Launched | 18 June 1931 |
| In service | 21 February 1933 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 20 March 1957 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Bougainville-class aviso |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 103.7 m (340 ft 3 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 12.7 m (41 ft 8 in) |
| Draught | 4.15 m (13 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power | 4,200 PS (3,100 kW; 4,100 bhp) |
| Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 diesel engines |
| Speed | 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) |
| Range | 9,000 nmi (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement | 14 officers and 121 crewmen |
| Armament |
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| Armour |
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| Aircraft carried | 1 × Gourdou-Leseurre GL-832 HY floatplane |
Savorgnan de Brazza was one of eight Bougainville-class avisos built for the French Navy (Marine Nationale) in the 1930s. Completed in 1933, she was assigned to the Far Eastern Naval Division (Division Navale de l'Extrême Orient) where she cruised amongst the islands of French Polynesia and the coast of French Indochina. The ship returned to France following the beginning of World War II in 1939 and played a minor role in the Dunkirk evacuation in May–June 1940 after the Germans invaded France. Savorgnan de Brazza sailed to Britain to avoid capture later in June.
The ship was seized by the British in early July and was transferred to the Free French the following month. During the Battle of Dakar in September, she carried the negotiators who unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the Vichy garrison to join the Free French and participated in a failed attempt to land troops outside Dakar. During the Battle of Gabon in November, Savorgnan de Brazza sank one of her sister ships whose crew had sided with Vichy France. The ship played a minor role in the East African Campaign, during which she blockaded French Somaliland for most of 1941. The aviso returned to Britain at the beginning of 1942 where she was refitted and was then briefly assigned convoy escort duties in early 1943. Savorgnan de Brazza shot down a German bomber in March and was then transferred to the Indian Ocean where she rescued the survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship in July. The ship was transferred to the South Pacific in 1944 and returned to France for another lengthy refit in 1945.
Savorgnan de Brazza was sent to Indochina in 1946 to reinforce French efforts to regain control of the territory and played a minor role in the opening stages of the First Indochina War. The ship would alternate service in Vietnam and in home waters for the rest of her career. She was taken out of service in December 1954 and was scrapped in 1957.