The unfinished French destroyer carried three 100 mm guns, one 75 mm gun, and two twin 550 mm torpedo mountings in its completed form. Laid down in June 1914, its construction was suspended that year and resumed in 1918 with design changes. It was launched in April 1921, completed in 1923, and scrapped in 1938. French yards were busy repairing ships and sustaining the existing fleet. Even so, leaving an already-started destroyer idle is difficult to reconcile with submarine losses and chronic escort shortages in the Mediterranean and on the northern coast. France accepted the added work of ordering 12 ships abroad, sending out crews, and bringing them home while this hull remained unfinished. Its delay shows how little wartime flexibility remained in France's naval-industrial system.
Chapter · 26:31-31:35
An unfinished destroyer as a measure of industrial strain
A French destroyer begun in 1914 did not enter service until 1923, contrasting sharply with the urgent order for twelve Japanese ships.