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TORPEDO SHIPS
ACONIT destroyer (1973)


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Aconit 1977

Ships


Name No Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comp Fate
Aconit F703, 1.1974- D609   Arsenal de Lorient 22.3.1968 7.3.1970 30.3.1973 stricken 11.2014


Technical data


Displacement standard, t

3500

Displacement full, t

3900

Length, m

127.0

Breadth, m

13.4

Draught, m

5.80

No of shafts

1

Machinery

1 set Rateau geared steam turbines, 2 boilers

Power, h. p.

28650

Max speed, kts

27

Fuel, t

oil

Endurance, nm(kts)5000(15)
Armament

1 x 1 Malafon ASuM (13 Malafon), 2 x 1 - 100/55 Mod 1968, 4 - 550 KD-59E torpedo catapults (10 L5), 1 x 4 - 305 ASWRL

Electronic equipment

DRBV-13, DRBV-22A, DRBC-32B, DRBN-32 radars, DUBV-23, DUBV-43 VDS sonars, 2x Syllex decoy RL, SENIT-3 CCS

Complement

228



Standard scale images


<i>Aconit </i>1980
Aconit 1980
<i>Aconit </i>1995
Aconit 1995


Graphics


<i>Aconit </i>1977
Aconit 1977


Project history

Aconit was the prototype for a series of five ASW corvettes designed for convoy escort work in the North Atlantic. Similar in size and conception to the ocean escorts of the US Knox class, she shares with them a single-shaft steam propulsion system which made her unique in the Marine Nationale. Although well-equipped for ASW by the standards of the day, the absence of a helicopter capability limited the potential of the design, and the four projected sister-ships were abandoned in favour of the larger, more capable C 67 (later F 67) class.

In terms of architecture she was a scaled-down version of the Suffren, with a block of superstructure forward surmounted by a prominent radome, a combined mast and funnel amidships, and a lower superstructure block aft. The ASW systems were essentially those trialled by the La Galissonière. The Malafon reload magasine was housed within the after superstructure block. The SENIT 3 tactical data system was designed specifically for this class, and was also a feature of the F 67.

Modernizations

1985: - 1 x 4 - 305 ASWRL, DRBV-13 radar; + 2 x 4 MM40 Exocet SSM (8 MM40), DRBV-15A radar, ARBR-16, ARBB-32 ECM suites, SLQ-25 Nixie towed torpedo decoy

1992: - DRBC-32B, DRBN-32 radars; + 2 x 1 - 20/90 MIT-20F2, 2 x 1 - 12.7/90, DRBC-32D, DRBN-34A radars, DSBV-62C towed sonar array

Naval service

Aconit was decommissioned in February 1997.