1970 ACONIT A prototype anti-submarine corvette or destroyer built for the French Navy. Her name commemorates a Flower-class corvette of the wartime Free French Navy.
AN EXPERIMENTAL SHIP
The Aconit was the prototype for what the French Navy hoped would be a new series of convoy escorts suitable for the North Atlantic. France was still a full member of the NATO alliance in the early 1 960s, and the main threat was seen as Soviet submarines. The C65 design was unique in the modern French Navy in having a single-shaft steam plant and only two boilers, and although well-equipped by the standards of the day, the lack of a helicopter limited her effectiveness against fast submarines. The weapons systems were essentially the same as those that ran trials on La Galissonnire. Plans to build four more were abandoned, which suggests that the French Navy may not have been entirely happy with the single screw or the reduction in speed.
A LONG BUT UNEVENTFUL CAREER
The ship entered service in 1973 and joined the Atlantic Squadron at Brest. Her armament included the Malafon stand-off weapon, a rocket- launched homing torpedo amidships, and a quadruple 305mm (l2in) rocket-launcher forward of the bridge. In 198485 the latter was replaced by two quadruple sets of MM-40 Exocet missiles. At the same time the radar inside the prominent radome was upgraded from DRBV 13 to DRBV 1 5A. In 1991 the Aconit received a DSBV 62C towed array, which is streamed from the DUBV 43 variable-depth sonar (VDS) right aft. By 1997 this one-of-a-class was becoming very expensive to maintain and operate. Consequently, she was decommissioned.
TECHNICAL DATA
Type: Destroyer
Machinery: 1-shah geared turbine, 28,650hp
Dimensions: Length, 127m (41 7h); beam, 13.4m(44f
Displacement: 3500t (standard)
Draught: 5.8m (19ft)
