Baccarat was an aviso of the Arras class, also known as the Amiens class, ordered by the French Navy at the end of the First World War. Designed as fast escorts, the ships had a primary armament of two guns and depth charges. Launched in 1921, the vessel was initially deployed to Toulon and, in 1923, joined the (Mediterranean Squadron). Baccarat was deployed to ports across the Mediterranean Sea, including Alexandria, Beirut and Port Said. In 1924, the ship was damaged while returning the bodies of French sailors that had been killed during the First World War and buried on Cyprus. After returning to Toulon in 1928, the ship was sold in 1934 and broken up.
Design and development
Baccarat was a member of the Arras or Amiens class, a class of thirty fast avisos or sloops, designed to serve as escort ships and ordered under the 1916 and 1917 French Navy construction plans. The ships were similar in layout to three-island merchant ships with a high bow, which meant that they sailed well in high seas, keeping their crew dry. They were considered roomy and comfortable ships, although the weight of their armament and superstructure meant that they rolled heavily. Baccarat was the twenty-first member of the class.
The aviso had a length of between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam of and draught of . Normal displacement was . Power was provided by two Guyot Du Temple water-tube boilers feeding two sets of Parsons geared steam turbines rated at, driving two shafts and exhausting through two funnels. Design speed was , and a total of of coal was carried, which gave a design range of at . The ship had a complement of four officers and 99 other crew.
Baccarat had a main armament consisting of two single 55 calibre Modèle 1910 guns. Each could typically fire a shell at a rate of five or six rounds per minute. They were mounted on the centreline, one forward and the other aft of the superstructure. A steel shield was added to the guns in 1928. A single 62.5 calibre anti-aircraft gun and four 80 calibre Modèle 1914 Hotchkiss machine guns were also carried. The anti-aircraft gun was derived from a 1897 field gun and could typically fire a shrapnel shell at a rate of 20 rounds per minute. For anti-submarine warfare, the aviso was fitted with two throwers for twenty depth charges.
Construction and career Laid down by Chantiers et Ateliers de Provence in Port-de-Bouc in 1919, Baccarat was launched in 1921 and completed in 1922. The first ship of the name in the French fleet, after completing trials, the vessel joined the fleet at Toulon. Due to the aviso's reliance on coal, rather than the more difficult to obtain fuel oil that powered many of the rest of the class, Baccarat was deployed against the Red Sea slave trade. On 27 November 1923, the vessel, alongside sister ships , and , joined the light cruiser as part of the revived (Mediterranean Squadron). The fleet was to serve between Alexandria and Mersin, although temporarily the squadron was sent to Istanbul. With Béthune, Baccarat was stationed, on 11 February 1924, at Beirut. On 4 March, the ship was deployed to Alexandria and then Port Said. The port was the centre for the French Navy's Levant operations, including resupply missions for French forces in the region, and the aviso supported the naval fleet operating from there.
On 7 August, Baccarat escorted the gunboat Capricieuse to Bizerte for repairs. On 16 November, the vessel was towed back from Argostoli by the tugboat Travailleur after being damaged.while returning the bodies of four French sailors that had been buried there during the First World War. The ship sailed to Toulon on 6 January 1925 but returned to the , visiting Famagusta alongside a general deployment of the squadron in the Mediterranean Sea on 22 November. On 20 May the following year, the aviso made a visit to Massawa, then in Italian Eritrea. In early November 1927, while stationed at Chania, the ship refuelled the aircraft flown by a French pilot attempting to fly from Paros to Beirut. On 6 February 1928, the aviso arrived back to Toulon having sailed back via Naples. Baccarat was retired, on 27 November 1934, put up for sale through an auction and broken up.
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