Le Triomphant ("The triumphant one") was one of six large destroyers (, "Torpedo-boat destroyer") built for the (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 which was tasked to hunt down German commerce raiders and blockade runners. Le Triomphant 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. Le Triomphant played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign in late April and was under repair when the Germans invaded France in May. She sailed to Britain to avoid capture in June.
The ship was seized by the British in early July and was transferred to the Free French in August. After a refit, Le Triomphant began escorting convoys before the end of 1940 and was transferred to the Pacific Ocean in mid-1941. Later that year, she received orders to return to the Mediterranean in December, but they were cancelled when the Pacific War began on 8 December. Aside from a refit that lasted 10 months, the ship was on convoy escort duties until late 1943. Ordered again to return to the Mediterranean, Le Triomphant was badly damaged by a typhoon in the Indian Ocean and had to be sent to the United States for permanent repairs and modernization that lasted until mid-1945.
The ship was sent to French Indochina after the Japanese surrender in September to provide support for the French forces there. After returning to Metropolitan France in mid-1946, she was intermittently active until late 1949. Le Triomphant was placed in reserve at that time and was sold for scrap in 1957.
Design and description The Le Fantasque-class ships were designed to counter the fast Italian light cruisers and one member of the class, , set a world record for a ship with a conventional hull that was in excess of . They had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of .Jordan & Moulin, pp. 137, 139–140 The ships displaced at standardRoberts, p. 268 and at deep load. Le Triomphant was powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ship at . During her sea trials on 26 November 1935, her turbines provided and she reached for a single hour. The Parsons turbines were more economical than the Rateau-Bretagne turbines which gave those ships equipped with them a range of versus at . The crew of the Le Fantasque class consisted of 11 officers and 221 crewmen in peacetime and the number of the latter increased to 254 in wartime.Jordan & Moulin, pp. 140, 143–144
The main armament of the Le Fantasques consisted of five Canon de Modèle 1929 guns in single mounts, one superfiring pair fore and aft of the superstructure and the fifth gun abaft the aft funnel. Their anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of two Canon de Modèle 1925 guns in single mounts positioned amidships and four Hotchkiss Mitrailleuse de CA Modèle 1929 in two twin-gun mounts aft of the 37 mm mounts. The ships carried three above-water triple sets of torpedo tubes; the aft mount could traverse to both sides, but the forward mounts were positioned one on each broadside. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of sixteen depth charges with another dozen available in the torpedo magazine. They could also be fitted with rails capable of handling 40 naval mines.Jordan & Moulin, pp. 145–151
Modifications In April 1939, the bridge wings were enlarged to accommodate the Hotchkiss machine guns on Le Triomphant, and . After the war began, 200 kg depth-charge stowage increased to 48 and a pair of rails were installed on the stern for depth charges. Each rail could accommodate 3 depth charges and 15 more were stored in the magazine. In early 1940 twin-gun 37 mm mounts replaced the single-gun mounts. Under Free French control as of 3 July, Le Triomphant was refitted in late 1940 during which she had her aft superfiring 138.6 mm gun replaced by a British 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V AA gun and a Type 128 ASDIC system that had been taken from a seized French destroyer was installed. The 35 kg depth charges and their rails were removed and the ship was fitted with four Modèle 1918 depth-charge throwers abreast the aft superstructure for depth charges. Two of these were stowed next to each mount and eighteen more were stowed in the magazine.Jordan & Moulin, pp. 156–157, 253
During a subsequent refit in mid-1941, the Hotchkiss machine guns were relocated to positions on the forecastle deck and their former positions were occupied by single mounts for 2-pounder () Mk II AA guns. A quadruple mount for Hotchkiss machine guns taken from the battleship was installed atop the aft superstructure and rails for 18 British Mk VIIH depth charges were installed on the stern. A fixed antenna for a Type 286M search radar was also installed. A late 1942 refit in Australia exchanged the 13.2 mm machine guns for six Oerlikon light AA guns and the Type 286M radar was replaced by a Type 290 system with a rotating antenna.Jordan & Moulin, pp. 253–256
En route to the Boston Navy Yard in 1944 for a comprehensive refit, Le Triomphant stopped in Bizerte, French Tunisia, where the British Mk V AA gun was replaced by a 138.6 mm gun from L'Audacieux. The Americans installed SA early-warning, SF surface-search and a British Type 285 fire-control radar, removed her aft torpedo tubes to save weight and converted some boiler feedwater tanks to fuel oil to improve her range. Her AA armament had been removed earlier and now consisted of six Bofors guns in a twin-gun mount superfiring over the aft 138.6 mm guns, and two other twin mounts forward of the aft funnel; she now carried eleven Oerlikon guns in single mounts, four on the sides of the bridge and the remaining guns on platforms on the aft superstructure, on the quarterdeck, and where the aft torpedo mount had been.Jordan & Moulin, pp. 268–275
Construction and career Ordered on 22 May 1931 as part of the 1930 Naval Program, Le Triomphant was laid down on 28 August 1931 by Ateliers et Chantiers de France at their shipyard in Dunkerque. She was launched on 16 April 1934, commissioned on 31 December 1935, completed on 25 May 1936 and entered service on 24 July. Completion was delayed when her turbines stripped some of their blades and required lengthy repairs. When the Le Fantasques entered service they were assigned to the newly formed 8th and 10th Light Divisions () which were later redesignated as scout divisions (); both divisions were assigned to the 2nd Light Squadron () in Brest. As of 1 October 1936 Le Triomphant, L'Indomptable and Le Malin were assigned to the 8th Light Division while , Le Terrible and belonged to the 10th. Between 15 January and 26 February 1937, the 2nd Light Squadron cruised as far south as Conakry, French West Africa. On 27 May, Alphonse Gasnier-Duparc, Minister of the Navy, reviewed the fleet, including all of the Le Fantasques.Jordan & Moulin, pp. 138–139, 214–215
World War II Both the 8th and 10th Scout Divisions were assigned to the at Brest when war was declared in September 1939; it made only a single sortie as a complete unit on 2–6 September when it responded to an erroneous report that German ships had left port. Afterwards it was dispersed into smaller groups to search for German commerce raiders and blockade runners.Jordan & Moulin, p. 222 During 21–30 October, the , including all of the Le Fantasques, screened Convoy KJ 4 against a possible attack by the heavy cruiser . On 25 November the 8th Scout Division, consisting of Le Triomphant, L'Indomptable, and Le Malin, rendezvoused with the battleship and escorted her to Brest.Rohwer, pp. 7, 9 Her sister, , sailed for Canada on 11 December with a cargo of gold and she was escorted for the next two days by Le Triomphant, Le Terrible, , and .Jordan & Dumas, p. 69
In anticipation of an Italian declaration of war, the , including the 8th Scout Division, assembled in Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, on 5–9 April 1940, only to return to Brest when the Germans invaded Norway on the 10th. On the night of 23/24 April 1940, the 8th Scout Division made a high-speed patrol of the Skaggerak (Operation Rake), hoping to attack German merchantmen headed for Norway. They encountered two patrol boats and damaged one of them while also engaging a pair of S-boats to little effect and narrowly missed spotting a convoy of minelayers. Le Malin then began experiencing engine problems and the ships were forced to reduce speed. Near-misses by German bombers damaged one of Le Triomphants propeller shafts as they withdrew and she returned to Lorient on 30 April for repairs.Jordan & Moulin, pp. 226–227, 231 As the Germans advanced in France and threatened the harbors in Brittany, the ship departed for Plymouth on 21 June.
Free French service
On 3 July she was seized by the British at Plymouth as part of Operation Catapult, but the ship was turned over to the FNFL on 28 August and Commander () Philippe Auboyneau assumed command of the ship. She was partially refitted with British equipment in September–October and recommissioned on 23 October, although the ship was not ready to go back to sea until November when she was assigned to the 11th Escort Group, based on the Firth of Clyde in western Scotland. Le Triomphant had constant problems with her propulsion machinery and propeller shafts during this time, which were aggravated when she broke loose from her mooring in Greenock during a gale in February 1941 and collided with a cargo ship. The ship received a major refit at HM Dockyard, Devonport in May–July to prepare her for service in the Pacific Ocean for which she departed on 31 July via the Panama Canal.Bertrand, p. 154; Jordan & Moulin, p. 250 As Le Triomphant passed through the canal on 16 August, she was recognised and reported by a Japanese observer, whose transmission was intercepted by Magic. The ship reached San Diego on 25 August and received some minor repairs before she sailed for Tahiti on 5 September. Le Triomphant transported Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu, the Free French High Commissioner for the Pacific during this voyage and reached Papeete harbor on 23 September. The ship spent the next month visiting many of the islands of French Polynesia and British Fiji before arriving back in Papeete on 22 October.