Le Fantasque

History: The Le Fantasque class of six large, very fast destroyers (also referred to as the Malin class) was ordered under the French naval programme of 1930. They served in World War II for both Vichy France and the Free French Forces.

The original purpose of these large French destroyers, and the earlier Chacal class, was to operate with battleship and cruiser forces, although they were not restricted to this. The Italian Navy, the Regia Marina, reacted by building the Capitani Romani-class cruisers. The class was assigned to the Force de Raid when war was declared. Those ships that later sailed with the Allies were classed as light cruisers.

Type: Destroyer

Primary Country: France is one of Europe’s largest countries. It is bordered by six countries other nations: Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the southeast and Spain to the southwest. The United Kingdom borders France via the English Channel. The country is considered to be the gateway to Europe as there are several large international airports (two of these can be found in Paris), ferry terminals and the French rail service.

In 486, Frankish tribes unified under Merovingian kingship. In 843, Western Francia was established from the division of the Carolingian Empire. In 1789, the French monarchy was overthrown, and in 1792, the First French Republic was founded. In 1958, the Fifth French Republic was established.