From convoy escort to mine sweeper, the Chamois class ship was the French navy’s Swiss army knife

The French ship Chamois is labeled “Aviso Ecole de Pilotage,” aviso being akin to a modern sloop, larger than patrol boats but smaller than corvettes, used for a variety of roles. [1] The Chamois class were used as mine sweepers, anti-submarine ships, convoy escorts and patrol vessels [2]

The keels of 24 of the ships were laid between 1936 and 1939, however only five (Annamite, Chamois, Chevreuil, Gazelle and Surprise) were completed in time to serve in World War II. The 647 ton ships were 78.30 meters (257 ft) long overall, 8.70 meters (28 ft 7 in) in the beam, and had a draught of 3.28 meters (10 ft 9 in). They were powered by two Sulzer diesel engines, delivering 4,600 hp (3,430 kW) to two shafts, which gave a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). The 105 ton fuel capacity gave them a maximum range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph). The ship’s complement was 88 in peacetime, but 106 during the war. [3]

They were armed with with either a Model 1892 or a Model 1932 100 mm (3.9 in)/45 gun or twin Model 1926 90 mm (3.5 in)/50 guns, the machine guns as designed, two depth charge projectors and racks [4]

Chamois (A34) was laid down in November 1936 at the Arsenal de Lorient, launched on 29 April 1938, and commissioned in late 1939. She served as a convoy escort until the Fall of France in May 1940. She was scuttled at Toulon on 27 November 1942, but raised on 7 March 1943 and assigned to the Italian Regia Marina as FR53. She was seized by Germany on 9 September 1943 following the Italian armistice, but was sunk by Allied bombing at Toulon on 24 November 1943. On 7 March 1944 she was refloated and towed to Brégaillon, where she was scrapped after the end of the war.

[1] https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Aviso accessed 05/17/2021
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamois-class_minesweeping_sloop accessed 05/17/2021
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] photo by Marius Bar, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25448637 This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.