Back L’Audacieux (Schiff, 1935) German FS L’Audacieux (1931) Finnish L'Audacieux (contre-torpilleur) French ローダシュー (大型駆逐艦) Japanese
 L'Audacieux in port, circa 1939
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | L'Audacieux |
| Namesake | The audacious one |
| Ordered | 17 November 1930 |
| Builder | Arsenal de Lorient |
| Laid down | 16 November 1931 |
| Launched | 15 March 1934 |
| Completed | 27 November 1935 |
| Commissioned | 1 August 1935 |
| In service | 7 December 1935 |
| Captured | 8 December 1942 |
| Fate | |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Le Fantasque-class destroyer |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 132.4 m (434 ft 5 in) |
| Beam | 12 m (39 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbines |
| Speed | 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph) (designed) |
| Range | 2,700 nmi (5,000 km; 3,100 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement | 11 officers, 254 sailors (wartime) |
| Armament |
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L'Audacieux ("The audacious one") was one of six Le Fantasque-class large destroyers (contre-torpilleur, "Torpedo-boat destroyer") built for the Marine Nationale (French Navy) during the 1930s. The ship entered service in 1935 and participated in the Second World War. When war was declared in September 1939, all of the Le Fantasques were assigned to the Force de Raid, tasked to hunt down German commerce raiders and blockade runners. L'Audacieux and two of her sister ships were based in Dakar, French West Africa, to patrol the Central Atlantic for several months in late 1939. They returned to Metropolitan France before the end of the year and were transferred to French Algeria in late April 1940 in case Italy decided to enter the war. She screened French cruisers several times as they unsuccessfully hunted for Italian ships after Italy declared war in June.
After most of French Equatorial Africa had declared for Free France in August, L'Audacieux and two of her sisters escorted a force of cruisers sent to Dakar in September to intimidate the colonies into rejoining Vichy France. The British and Free French sent a force to persuade French West Africa to join the Free French and the Battle of Dakar began when the garrison rejected their entreaties. The Vichy French destroyers were initially given a defensive role, but L'Audacieux was ordered to conduct a reconnaissance mission. She encountered an Australian cruiser at close range and drifted onto the shore after her power was knocked out. The ship was salvaged in early 1941 and was slowly repaired enough to reach French Tunisia for permanent repairs in mid-1942. Captured when the Germans occupied Tunisia six months later, she was sunk when the Germans evacuated in May 1943. Refloated once more at the end of the year, she was deemed not worth repairing and was cannibalized for spare parts. Her wreck was scrapped in 1947.