NAVYPEDIA

Ships

Names	Builders	Completed	Losses	Transfers	Discarding
Libellule	F C de la Méditerranée, Granville: Libellule	1905: Libellule	none	none	1911: Libellule

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	39
Displacement full, t
Length, m	36.4 pp
Breadth, m	3.40
Draught, m	1.90
No of shafts	1
Machinery	1 Rateau steam turbine, 1 Renard boiler
Power, h. p.	1000
Max speed, kts	13
Fuel, t	coal
Endurance, nm(kts)
Armament	1 x 1 - 380 TT
Complement

Standard scale images

Project history

Ordered on the initiative of Émile Bertin on 10.3.1898, this vessel was a 'torpilleur-vedette' although the hull form was based on the Normand 34-metre type. Built by Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, Libellule was designed as a test-bed for the revolutionary Renard steam generator. This device, although theoretically offering high power almost instantly, was immensely complex and capricious in the extreme, and the prototype took 6 years to construct. On trials it was very disappointing, 15.2kts being Libellule's best speed, and the boat was decommissioned as soon as the trials were over and never again employed.

Modernizations

None.

Naval service

She was stricken in 1911.