French sloop La Capricieuse

La Capricieuse
History
France
Name	La Capricieuse
Builder	Chantiers Dubigeon
Launched	19 April 1939
Fate	Scrapped, September 1964
General characteristics
Class and type	Elan-class aviso
Displacement	standard 630 tons full load 740 tons
Length	78.30 m (256 ft 11 in) o/a 73.81 m (242 ft 2 in) p/p
Beam	8.70 m (28 ft 7 in)
Draught	3.28 m (10 ft 9 in)
Propulsion	2 × Sulzer marine diesel engines, 4,600 hp (3,430 kW), 2 shafts
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range	10,000 nautical miles at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) 5,200 nautical miles at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) 3,000 nautical miles at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Armament	1 × single M1892 or M1932 100 mm/45 gun or 1 × twin M1926 90 mm/50 guns 1 × quad 13.2 mm/76 AA gun 2 × twin 13.2 mm/76 AA guns 2 depth charge throwers 1 depth charge rack

La Capricieuse was a ship of the French Elan-class minesweeping sloops (Avisos dragueur de mines). She was built by Chantiers Dubigeon at Nantes and launched on 19 April 1939.

After the Fall of France she was at Portsmouth and on 3 July 1940 she was seized by the Royal Navy. She served in the Royal Navy as HMS La Capricieuse until June 1945 when she was restored to the French Navy. She continued in service after the war and was scrapped in September 1964.

Sources

• Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy. Navies of the Second World War. Vol. 2. London: MacDonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. pp. 16–17. ISBN 9780356023847.