The T 53 class were the second group of destroyers built for the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

after World War II. These ships were a modified version of the s. The main difference with the preceding ships was the provision of improved air warning and tracking radars as well as an anti-submarine mortar. The ships were built between 1957 and 1958 and were decommissioned in the late 1970s or early 1980s. A single modified ship ''La Galissonnière'' was built as a trials ship for a new generation of French weapons. This ship was designated as the T 56 class.

Modifications

In 1972–73 two of the class were substantially modified: * ''Duperré'' was completely rearmed with a Model 1968 main gun, four Exocet MM38 missiles, two quadruple L5 torpedo launchers, and two 20 mm AA cannon. She was also fitted with a helipad to carry a Lynx WG13 helicopter. * ''Forbin'' had her forward 57 mm turret removed, and her aft 127 mm turret was replaced by a helipad. She was then principally used as a naval aviation training ship alongside the helicopter cruiser .

''La Galissonnière''

''La Galissonnière'' differed slightly in specification from the rest of the class as she was built specifically to test the Malafon anti-submarine missile. * Length : * Beam : * Draught : * Complement: 272 * 2 × Model 1953 guns (2×1) * 1 × Malafon anti-submarine missile launcher (13 missiles) * 6 × torpedo tubes (2×3) * 1 × quadruple anti-submarine mortar * 2 × 20 mm AA cannon * 1 × Alouette II or Alouette III helicopter

Ships

References

Bibliography

* Conway's ''All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995'' *

External links