&sq=Bangladesh&lang=en&file=File:Hardi-2.jpg) Sister ship Le Hardi at anchor
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Fleuret |
| Namesake | Rapier |
| Builder | Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, La Seyne-sur-Mer |
| Laid down | 18 August 1936 |
| Launched | 28 July 1938 |
| Commissioned | 10 May 1940 |
| Renamed | Foudroyant, 1 April 1941 |
| Captured | 27 November 1942 |
| Fate | Scuttled, 27 November 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Le Hardi-class destroyer |
| Displacement | |
| 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 |
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| Propulsion |
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| 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 |
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Fleuret was one of a dozen Le Hardi-class destroyers built for the Marine Nationale (French Navy) during the late 1930s. The ship was completed during the Battle of France in mid-1940 and her first mission was to help escort a battleship to Dakar, French West Africa, only days before the French signed an armistice with the Germans. After the British attack on Dakar in September, she was one of four destroyers ordered to attack British shipping, although there was only an inconclusive duel with a British destroyer. Fleuret helped to escort one of the battleships damaged by the British during their July attack on Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, back to France in November and was then reduced to reserve.
When the Germans occupied Vichy France after the Allies landed in French North Africa in November 1942 and tried to seize the French fleet, the destroyer was one of the ships scuttled to prevent their capture. She was salvaged by the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) in 1943, but was scuttled again by the Germans as a blockship in mid-1944. The ship was refloated in 1951 and later scrapped.