|
''Volta'' was a ((フランス語:contre-torpilleur)) of the French Navy. Named for the West African river, she was built before the outbreak of World War II and was the penultimate ''contre-torpilleur'' built by the French Navy. Along with her sister ship , ''Volta'' was designed in an effort to build a ship capable of out-fighting every other ship below her tonnage. Arguably the design was less than successful, as it possessed the armament of a light cruiser on the hull of a destroyer. The two ships of the class have been described as having pushed the ''contre-torpilleur'' concept beyond "the limits of its capabilities".〔Jordan, p. 59〕 During ''Volta''s service with the French Navy, she saw only limited action. Following the outbreak of the war, she took part in convoy escort duties initially before being withdrawn to Brest for refit. On 3 July 1940, when the British attacked the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, ''Volta'' managed to escape without damage and sought refuge in Toulon. When the Germans tried to seize her along with the rest of the fleet on 27 November 1942, however, she was scuttled in Toulon Harbour by her crew to prevent her from being captured. ==Design and description== ''Volta'' had an overall length of , a beam of , and a maximum draft of . She displaced at standard load and at deep load. The Rateau-Bretagne geared steam turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ship at . However, during sea trials in February 1938, ''Volta''s turbines provided and she reached at a deep displacement of . The ship carried of fuel oil at normal load and an additional at deep load.〔Jordan, p. 50〕 ''Volta'' carried eight Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1929 guns in four twin electrically powered gun turrets, two each superimposed fore and aft. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of two ''Mle 1933'' guns in a single mount positioned on the rear deck house forward of the rear turrets. She also mounted four ''Mle 1929'' heavy machine guns in two twin mounts located between the forward superstructure and the forward guns. ''Volta'' carried 10 above-water tubes: a pair of triple mounts between the funnels and a pair of double mounts aft of the rear funnel. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into ''Volta''s stern; these housed a total of 16 Guirard depth charges. Mine rails were fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 40 mines.〔Jordan, pp. 52–54〕 The ship's greatest weakness was her "inability to generate sufficient electric current to power the multitude of auxiliary motors on which their advanced machinery and complex gun mountings were dependent. Many of the auxiliary motors themselves were also seriously underpowered, particularly the servomotors for the gun mountings (which were slow to train and elevate) and for the rudder (which contributed to the ship's poor maneuverability."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「French destroyer Volta」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|