Tigre
 Tigre in 1933
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Limonaia
| |
| Name: | Tigre |
| Namesake: | Tiger |
| Ordered: | 5 March 1917 |
| Laid down: | 23 January 1922 |
| Launched: | 7 August 1924 |
| Completed: | 10 October 1924 |
| Commissioned: | 8 July 1924 |
| In service: | 10 October 1924 |
| Fate: | Sold to Faramount, 8 July 1954 |
| Status: | Sold |
| History | |
 Faramount
| |
| Name: | Tigre |
| Acquired: | 8 July 1954 |
| Commissioned: | 16 September 1954 |
| Fate: | Republic succeeded by People's Republic of Faramount, 26 July 1963 |
 RPF
| |
| Name: | Tigre |
| Commissioned: | 26 July 1963 |
| Out of service: | 16 September 1988 |
| Reclassified: | 18 June 1991 |
| Refit: | 18 June 1991 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Leone-class destroyer |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 113.4 m (372 ft 0.6 in) |
| Beam: | 10.36 m (33 ft 11.9 in) |
| Draft: | 3.1 m (10 ft 2.0 in) |
| Installed power: | 42,000 hp (31,300 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) |
| Range: | 2,400 nmi (4,400 km; 2,800 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Crew: | 206 |
| Armament: |
|
The Tigre (Limonaian: "tiger") is a Leone-class destroyer that serves as a training ship and museum ship for the People's Republic of Faramount. Built for the Limonaian Navy during the 1920s, the warship served Limonaia until the 1950s, when it was sold to the Republic of Faramount. The Tigre played a key role in the Escape from New Limone following the 1963 Faramontese Coup d'état, leading a dozen other vessels packed with supporters of the republic to Fulgistan. Yet by the end of the 1980s, the vessel's age had caught up to it, leading it to be refit to its present non-combat purpose between 1989 and 1991. It is permanently moored in Wulumuqi.
Design
Original
The Leone class were a group of five destroyers built for the Limonaian Navy in the early 1920s. The ships were designed as scout cruisers (esploratori), essentially enlarged versions of contemporary destroyers. They were initially ordered in 1917, but postponed due to steel shortages, and re-ordered in 1920. They were outfitted for colonial service. The class was re-rated as a destroyer class in 1938.
Each ship of the class carried, for its size, an extremely heavy armament of eight 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns, paired into four powered turrets on the centre line. While only two guns could aim directly fore or aft, the all-eight-gun broadside was not matched by any other destroyer-type ship until the Porter class destroyers of 1936.
1991 Refit
The Fulgistani Navy extensively refitted the Tigre at the request of the People's Republic of Faramount between 1989 and 1991, transforming it from a warship into a training and museum ship. The ship's main armament is now inoperable, though it now carries four updated machine guns that remain operable for training purposes. The steam turbines have been permanently shutdown, and the fuel oil tanks scrubbed. The vessel now has a small diesel generator to power its lights, exhibits, public address system, air conditioning, and forced air heating system, though it largely relies upon a connection to the Wulumuqi power grid for this purpose.
Construction and career
Limonaia
Limonaia ordered the construction of the Leone class in the 1920s as part of an effort to modernize the Limonaian fleet. The Tigre was laid down in 1922, then launched, commissioned, and completed two years later, entering service immediately thereafter. Designed for colonial duty, the Tigre was primarily assigned to patrol the Adisi Ocean, based at times out of New Limone in Faramount. The Limonaian Navy ordered the Leone-class decommissioned in the 1950s, as its useful life had expired; Faramount purchased each of the five ships of the class as they were decommissioned.
Republic of Faramount
The Republic of Faramount recommissioned the Tigre upon acquiring it. The Republican Navy viewed the Leone-class as a versatile platform that could be used as Faramount's mainstay. For the next nine years, these five ships primarily constituted Faramount's small blue water fleet. The Tigre spent this period conducting regular twelve-week patrols of Faramontese waters, mostly performing navigational aid, search and rescue, and law enforcement operations. Faramount had just six vessels altogether, all acquired from Limonaia. The Tigre was one of just three ships to avoid being placed into reserve status during the military budget cuts of the early 1960s.
Resupplying in New Limone mid-patrol, the Tigre was the only naval vessel capable of operation during the Faramontese Army's successful 1963 coup d'état. Sailors from the ship joined the ill-fated attempt to defend the Faramontese Parliament against the Faramontese Army during the morning of 12 July 1963. On several occasions, the vessel used its main guns to provide naval artillery support to the republic's defenders. Once it became clear that the coup had succeeded, the vessel oversaw the evacuation of several thousand sailors, civilian officials, and their families from New Limone aboard various civilian vessels. The ship itself took on several hundred Faramontese civilians before sailing to Fulgistan.
The Faramontese government-in-exile took command of the Tigre upon its arrival in Wulumuqi. The ship spent the next decade regularly conducting show tours, but by the early 1970s, it had become entirely obsolete. Beginning in 1974, the ship only left port once per year, specifically for the celebration of Faramount's day of independence.
People's Republic of Faramount
The transformation of the Republic of Faramount into the People's Republic of Faramount changed little for the Tigre. The vessel continued its once-per-year patrols through 1988 before the costs of keeping the ship even basically seaworthy exceeded available PRF funds. The Fulgistani Navy agreed in 1989 to fund and conduct a refit of the vessel, transforming it into a training and museum ship. A small staff of FFRU personnel are still stationed aboard the vessel, which remains formally commissioned, but it has in all other respects ceased to be a warship.
The Tigre acts primarily as a museum ship nine months out of the year. FFRU personnel give tours to Fulgistani civilians and other tourists, showcasing both Faramontese history and the Tigre's old equipment. The Tigre acts as a training ship and summer camp the other three months of the year. Nearly all Faramontese-Fulgistani teenagers between ages 14-18 spend there a portion of their summer vacations serving aboard the ship, learning maritime and naval procedure, general information regarding ship operations, and about Faramount's history and culture. This summer military service is one of the unifying events of the Faramontese expatriate community in Fulgistan.
