French destroyer Volta

Volta
History
France
Name	Volta
Namesake	Volta River
Builder	Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne Nantes
Laid down	24 December 1934
Launched	26 November 1936
Commissioned	6 March 1939
Fate	Scuttled, 27 November 1942, raised in 1943 by Italy, scrapped in 1948
General characteristics
Class and type	Mogador-class destroyer
Displacement	2,997 t (2,950 long tons) (standard)
Length	137.5 m (451 ft 1 in)
Beam	12.57 m (41 ft 3 in)
Draft	4.74 m (15 ft 7 in)
Installed power	4 water-tube boilers 92,000 shp (69,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbines
Speed	39 knots (72 km/h; 45 mph)
Range	4,345 nmi (8,047 km; 5,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	12 officers, 226 men
Armament	4 × twin 138.6 mm (5.5 in) guns 2 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns 2 × twin 13.2 mm (0.52 in) 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA guns 2 × triple, 2 × twin 550 mm (22 in) torpedo tubes 32 depth charges and up to 40 naval mines

Volta was a Mogador-class destroyer (contre-torpilleur) of the French Navy. Named for the West African river, she was built before the outbreak of World War II and was the penultimate contre-torpilleur built by the French Navy. Along with her sister ship Mogador, Volta was designed in an effort to build a ship capable of out-fighting every other ship below her tonnage. Arguably the design was less than successful, as it possessed the armament of a light cruiser on the hull of a destroyer. The two ships of the class have been described as having pushed the contre-torpilleur concept beyond "the limits of its capabilities".^[1]

During Volta's service, she saw only limited action. Following the outbreak of the war, she took part in convoy escort duties initially before being withdrawn to Brest for refit. On 3 July 1940, when the British attacked the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, Volta managed to escape without damage and sought refuge in Toulon. When the Germans tried to seize her along with the rest of the fleet on 27 November 1942, however, she was scuttled in Toulon Harbour by her crew to prevent her from being captured.