French destroyer Tartu (1931)

Sister ship Vauquelin, about 1934
History
France
Name	Tartu
Namesake	Jean-François Tartu
Ordered	1 February 1930
Builder	Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Saint-Nazaire
Laid down	14 September 1930
Launched	7 December 1931
Completed	31 December 1932
In service	8 February 1933
Fate	Scuttled, 27 November 1942
General characteristics
Class and type	Vauquelin-class destroyer
Displacement	2,441 t (2,402 long tons) (standard) 3,120 t (3,070 long tons) (deep load)
Length	129.3 m (424 ft 3 in)
Beam	11.8 m (38 ft 9 in)
Draft	4.97 m (16 ft 4 in)
Installed power	4 du Temple boilers 64,000 PS (47,000 kW; 63,000 shp)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbines
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Crew	12 officers, 224 crewmen (wartime)
Armament	5 × single 138.6 mm (5.5 in) guns 4 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) anti-aircraft guns 2 × twin 13.2 mm (0.52 in) anti-aircraft machineguns 1 × triple, 2 × twin 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes 2 chutes and 2 throwers for 36 depth charges 40 mines

Tartu was one of six Vauquelin-class destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) built for the French Navy during the 1930s. The ship entered service in 1933 and spent most of her career in the Mediterranean. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, she was one of the ships that helped to enforce the non-intervention agreement. When France declared war on Germany in September 1939, all of the Vauquelins were assigned to the High Sea Forces (Forces de haute mer (FHM)) which was tasked to escort French convoys and support the other commands as needed. Tartu was briefly deployed to Scotland in early 1940 to support the Allied forces in the Norwegian Campaign, but returned to the Mediterranean in time to participate in Operation Vado, a bombardment of Italian coastal facilities after Italy entered the war in June.

The Vichy French reformed the FHM after the French surrender in June. The ship was scuttled in Toulon when the Germans occupied Vichy France in November 1942. She was not significantly salvaged during the war and her wreck was broken up in 1956.