Adroit class, the French patrol coasters

[Arghail]

[Would you like to see this in-game?]

• Yes
• No

Escorteur côtier

Adroit class

About this class and its interest in War Thunder

These ships are part of the first French coastal patrol ships put into service. Although their performance and overall armament are not really original ( 2 x BOFOR canons as their main armament), they make a good mid tier coastal ship for the French navy, similar to what we’ve already seen in the Italian tech tree. There’s also a special variant equipped with a torpedo tube for testing purpose, which could be fun.

History :

The 1950’s in France saw the modernisation of their entire fleet, and the renewal of the French naval industry. The idea was to slowly bring back French made equipment into the Marine Nationale, which was mostly relying on American or British made equipment since the end of the war. As far as the coastal fleet was concerned, The French navy mostly relied on outdated PC-461 given by the US navy, and had to be replaced by more modern equipment. A first batch of a few ships, called Fougueux class, was built for export, and served as a base for what was going to be the main class : the Adroit class.

11 ships were built between 1957 and 1959. They were mostly used to patrol the French coast of the Atlantic, as well as the coasts of the African colonies until they became independent. After that, they were mostly used around the French oversea territories. They were all ultimately scrapped between 1977 and 1980, replaced by more modern and cost effective ships.

There was one ship that was outfitted with a 550mm torpedo tube for testing purposes, located on the aft. It was the P630 Intrépide.

Specifications :

DIMENSIONS

Total length : 53.1m

Total width : 7.05m

draught : 3.10m

weight : 400t max

ENGINE :

type : 4 x diesel SEMT-Pierstick (3240 HP)

propellers : 2

max speed : 19 knots (35.2 km/h)

autonomy : 3000 miles at 12 knts

ARMAMENT :

Original :

2 x BOFOR 40mm BOFOR autocanons
1 x ASW 120mm mortar,
2 x DCT
2 x DCR

P630 L’INTRÉPIDE:

2 x BOFOR 40mm BOFOR autocanons
1 x ASW 120mm mortar,
2 x DCT
2 x DCR
1 x 550mm Torpedo tube

CREW : 62 men

PHOTOS :

Plans :

Spoiler

Photos :

Spoiler

Photo of the Intrepide ; you can see the Torpedo tube on the aft :

Spoiler

http://www.alabordache.fr/marine/espacemarine/photo/vignetteg/image/lintrepide15317.jpg
http://www.alabordache.fr/marine/espacemarine/photo/vignetteg/image/lintrepide9465.jpg

SOURCES :

Spoiler

LE FOUGUEUX submarine chasers (1955 - 1959)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classe_L’Adroit_(escorteur)
Escorteur côtier français
L'INTRÉPIDE (E.C.)
[Divers escorteurs côtiers] Les Escorteurs Côtiers - Page 24

[Fireraid233]

In the coastal tree?

[Arghail]

Well yes, obviously. These are literally patrol coaster.

[bbbdddaaa]

I think this got included in the update right, the L’intrepid

[LtCol-RedFox]

It did indeed, as seen here:

Although there’s some “issues”, not that I’m 100% sure on the history of this vessel, as inadvertently I looked about an found this post prior to the update & was absolutely keen after reading OP’s armament layouts.

OP specifically mentioned two Bofors 40 mm/60 autocannons but there’s only one & in the second superfiring gun tub is I’m pretty sure the 120 mm mortars(?) yet in game they’re inactive (what a surprise… looks at most other mortars being inactive).

I guess we got the six spare L3 torpedoes over the second 40 mm/60 as scene by the aft deck in OP’s historical pictures.

[Arghail]

Yeah, that’s my mistake. An old one at that, made this post like 5 years ago on the old forum… but yes, the experimental configuration did indeed seem to have removed the aft 40mm. The L3, obviously, is absolutely dreadful because it’s supposed to be a sonar guided anti sub torpedo, not a surface torp. But well. Maybe it’ll be more interesting once subs get added to the game.

[PARDUS_IX]

What ship class replaced this in the 80’s?

[Arghail]

Difficult to say, much changed in naval.warfare overall during the cold war. The D’Estienne d’Orves class, much bigger and multipurpose ships with enhanced armament were supposed to take on the role of escort ships, but… when it comes to coastal duties, I’d say the Trident class PATRAs were their successors. Still, those were remnants of an “end of ww2” philosophy that disappeared with modern warfare vehicles.

[PlayedStatue626-live]

+1 for the other config not in game (perhaps a folder?)