History
of the Ship
Ten "De Bougainville"
class ships will be built between 1931 and 1940. Eight of them will
return to service before the Armistice of June 1940. The last two
will not be completed in time. These ships, designated "avisos
for distant campaigns" were capable of a large radius of action,
and their weak draft should allow them to go up the rivers of Asia
and Africa. The Avisos of this class will be the first French surface
ships to be fitted with diesel engines.
The construction of the "D'Iberville"
Aviso was entrusted to Chantiers et Ateliers de Provence in Port
de Bouc. The new ship launched on September 23, 1935 will enter
service in January 1935 and will be assigned to the Naval Division
of the Levant.
In October 1935, the Italians
invaded Ethiopia, which led to the dispatch of the Aviso "D'Iberville"
in the Red Sea. He stayed there for almost 2 years before joining
Lorient in April 1937.
After the Armistice of June
24, 1940, the D'Iberville sailed under the colors of the Vichy Fleet.
From September 23 to 25, 1940, he participated in the defense of
Dakar. During this battle, the Vichy Forces will face the Franco-British
Naval forces. The Free French thought they could rally the territories
then under Vichy governance, but the operation will not go as planned
... Negotiations and military operations fail, and Dakar will remain
in the hands of Vichy: Mers-El-Kébir is a event still too
present in the minds of sailors of the Vichy fleet ...
In June 1941, the "D'Iberville"
participated in the supply of the French troops present in Djibouti
and isolated by the British Blockade.
On November 11, 1942, when
the Germans invaded the Free Zone in response to the Allied landings
in North Africa, on November 8, the Aviso "D'Iberville"
was present in the port of Toulon. On November 27, 1942, the Vichy
authorities ordered the Fleet present in the port to scuttle so
as not to fall into the hands of the Germans. "D'Ibreville"
was scuttled and sunk after destruction of its artillery and machines.
In January 1943, the company
"Les Abeilles du Havre" tried to bail out the wreck, but
the operation was abandoned in March 1944. The wreck of "D'Iberville"
was finally destroyed in 1956.
