French destroyer Téméraire

The French destroyer Téméraire was one of four Aventurier-class destroyers that was built for the Argentine Navy in the early 1910s. The ships were taken over by the French Navy after the start of the First World War in August 1914. She was stricken in 1936 and subsequently scrapped.

Design and description
The Aventurier-class ships were significantly larger and more heavily armed than other French destroyers of the period. The ships had an overall length of 88.5 m, a beam of 8.6 m, and a draft of 3.1 m. They displaced 930 t at normal load and 1250 t at deep load. Their crew numbered 140 men.

The ships were powered by a pair of Rateau steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by five mixed-firing Foster-Wheeler boilers. The engines were designed to produce 18000 shp which was intended to give the ships a speed of 32 kn. The ships carried 230 t of coal and 72 t of fuel oil that gave them a range of 1850 nmi at a cruising speed of 10 kn.

The primary armament of the Aventurier-class ships consisted of four 100 mm guns in single mounts, one on the forecastle, one between the funnels, and two on the quarterdeck, in front and behind the searchlight platform. They were fitted with a 47 mm AA gun for anti-aircraft defence. The ships were also equipped with four single mounts for 450 mm torpedo tubes amidships.

Construction and career
Téméraire was ordered from Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne and was launched on 8 December 1911 with the name of San Juan at its Nantes shipyard. The ship was completed on 2 November 1914.

On 27 May 1915, Téméraire and her sister ship FRENCH DESTROYER Opiniâtre escorted the armored cruiser FRENCH CRUISER Victor Hugo as she transported Vice-Admiral (Vice-amiral) Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, commander of the 1st Naval Army (1ère Armée Navale), to Taranto, Italy, for a meeting with Admiral Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi (Duca degli Abruzzi), Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina). According to a British report of 5 June, Téméraire was tasked to patrol the area around Palermo, Sicily.

She was stricken in 1936 and broken up for scrap.