French destroyer Casque (1938)

Sister ship Le Hardi at anchor
History
France
Name	Casque
Namesake	Helmet
Ordered	4 May 1936
Builder	Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, La Seyne-sur-Mer
Laid down	30 November 1936
Launched	2 November 1938
In service	20 June 1940
Captured	27 November 1942
Fate	Scuttled, 27 November 1942
General characteristics
Class and type	Le Hardi-class destroyer
Displacement	1,800 t (1,772 long tons) (standard ) 2,577 t (2,536 long tons) (deep load)
Length	117.2 m (384 ft 6 in) (o/a)
Beam	11.1 m (36 ft 5 in)
Draft	3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Installed power	4 forced-circulation boilers 58,000 PS (42,659 kW; 57,207 shp)
Propulsion	2 × shafts 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed	37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range	3,100 nautical miles (5,700 km; 3,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	187 officers and enlisted men
Armament	3 × twin 130 mm (5.1 in) guns 1 × twin 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns 2 × twin 13.2 mm (0.5 in) AA machine guns 1 × triple + 2 × twin 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes 2 × chutes; 12 × depth charges

The French destroyer Casque was one of a dozen Le Hardi-class destroyers built for the French Navy during the late 1930s. The ship was completed during the Battle of France in mid-1940 only days before the French signed an armistice with the Germans. When the Germans occupied Vichy France after the Allies landed in French North Africa in November 1942 and tried to seize the French fleet intact, the destroyer was one of the ships scuttled to prevent their capture. The Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) attempted to salvage her in 1943, but the effort was abandoned the following year. The ship was refloated in 1948 and scrapped.