- Yes
- No
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 As far as the coastal fleet was concerned, The French navy mostly relied on outdated PC-461 given by the US navy, and had to be replaced by more modern equipment.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 :
Photos :
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 :