History
of the Ship
The cruisers
"Duguay-Trouin", "Lamotte-Picquet" and "Primauguet"
will be the first cruisers manufactured after the 1st World War.
The design of these light cruisers, with a tonnage of 7,500 tonnes,
favored speed at the expense of protection. Thus, these ships good
sailors and very fast, they will reach 33 knots in the tests, had
a shielding of only 30mm maximum. The main armament includes 8 155mm
cannons in double turrets. Its anti-aircraft defense is made up
of 4 75mm cannons, 6 37mm cannons and 20 13.2mm machine guns. It
also receives 12 550mm torpedo tubes on 4 triple mounts. He was
boarding a Potez 452 seaplane, launched thanks to the 1.5-ton catapult
installed on the aft deck. The crew consisted of 575 crew members,
including 25 officers
The "Primauguet",
put on hold in the shipyards of Lorient on January 17, 1923, was
launched on May 21, 1924. After very conclusive tests, it entered
service on April 1927.
The new cruiser left until
December 1927 for a traditional validation cruise. In April 1932,
he joined the Far East which became his new base. He returned to
the fairing in January 1936, and resumed the patrols for a while,
before being replaced by the cruiser "Suffren". The "Primauguet"
then returns to mainland France.
In September 1939, after
the outbreak of the conflict, the cruiser "Primauguet"
carried out convoy escort missions in the North Atlantic. He then
harassed German merchant ships in the Netherlands Antilles. In May
1940, after the capitulation of the Dutch, his detachment of riflemen
went to defend on the island of Aruba (small Dutch island off the
coast of Venezuela) the oil deposits of Shell and Standard Oil.
The cruiser joined the port of Dakar on June 12, 1940 where he was
surprised by the Armistice.
Under the colors of the Vichy
Navy, the "Primauguet" will transport part of the Gold
from the Banque de France to shelter it in Africa. The cruiser,
based in Dakar in July 1940, will escape the tragedy of Mers-El-Kébir.
The Government of Vichy sends, in August 1940, the 4th Cruising
Division to Dakar in order to oppose the "attacks" of
the Free French Froces. This squadron joined the port of Dakar on
September 14 after having crossed the Strait of Gibraltar without
worries. On September 18, French ships set sail for Libreville,
in French Equatorial Africa which joined the Free French Forces
since August 26. But two British heavy cruisers intercept the French
Wing and part of the latter is forced to reach the port of Casablanca
under the threat of British guns. The Cruiser "Primauguet"
however managed to escape and join Dakar.
On November 8, 1942, the
allies landed in North Africa, thus launching Operation "Torch".
The "Primauguet", undergoing refit in the port of Casablanca,
will nevertheless succeed in setting sail in an attempt to intercept
the Allied forces. But the ship will be badly damaged by blows from
American ships and planes. The "Primauguet" will run aground
at the end of the port of Casablanca and will eventually capsize
the next day after having burned all night. There are approximately
45 dead and more than 200 injured.
