French sloop Commandant Dominé

History
France
Name	Commandant Dominé
Builder	Ateliers et Chantiers Dubigeon, Nantes
Laid down	February 1938
Launched	2 May 1939
Commissioned	April 1940
Decommissioned	18 August 1960
Fate	Scrapped, October 1960
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Élan-class minesweeping sloop
Displacement	895 t (881 long tons) (deep load)
Length	77.5 m (254 ft 3 in) (o/a)
Beam	8.92 m (29 ft 3 in)
Draught	3.13 m (10 ft 3 in) (deep load)
Installed power	3,430 kW (4,600 bhp)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 diesel engines
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range	10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement	106 (wartime)
Armament	1 × single 100 mm (3.9 in) gun 1 × quadruple, 2 × twin 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machineguns 1 × depth charge rail, 2 × throwers; 40 depth charges

Commandant Dominé (U70/A15/F742) was an Élan-class minesweeping sloop (Avisos dragueur de mines) built for the French Navy during the late 1930s that served in World War II.

Ship history

Commandant Dominé was built by Ateliers et Chantiers Dubigeon in Nantes, laid down in February 1938, launched on 2 May 1939 and commissioned in April 1940. She was seized by the British on 3 July 1940 and transferred to the Free French Naval Forces, seeing service in the Battle of Dakar ("Operation Menace") in September 1940.

The ship was rearmed by the British in 1941. Her main armament was replaced by twin QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval guns, and she also received a single QF 2-pounder pom-pom AA gun to replace the quadruple 13.2 mm/76 AA guns. She retained her original twin 13.2 mm/76 AA guns, but had an additional four twin and two single 12.7 mm/62 machine guns installed.

Post-war she remained in service with the French Navy. In 1947 she was rearmed again, with a single German 105 mm/45 calibre SK C/32 gun as main armament, a single Bofors 40 mm/60 Mk.3 and four single 20 mm/70 Mk.2 Oerlikons.

Commandant Dominé was decommissioned on 18 August 1960, and scrapped in October 1960.

Bibliography

• Garier, Gérard (2015). Les avisos-dragueurs de 630 tW du type "Élan" [The 630-tonne Minesweepers of the Elan Class] (in French). Vol. I: "Élan", "Commandant Bory", "Commandant Delage", "Commandant Rivière", "Commandant Duboc", "Commandant Dominé. Le Vigen, France: Lela Presse. ISBN 978-2-914017-86-2.
• Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy. Navies of the Second World War. Vol. 2. London: MacDonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. pp. 16–22. ISBN 9780356023847.
• Roberts, John (1980). "France". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 255–279. ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.