The French Navy was short of everything Post World War One. What helped with the shortfall were the ex-Germanic States ships, that were given to France, through the Allied Reparations Commission. Sixteen destroyers were sourced this way. 1 x S113 and V116 destroyer leaders from 1918, 6 x B97 destroyers from 1915, and 8 x V125 type destroyers from 1917-18. These ships were expected to serve in the French Navy for 10-15 years while their replacements were being built.
Only the six B97 type destroyers did not make it to WW2 being discarded in 1934-35.
The two big destroyer leaders went through many refits in their time as French ships. The largest was removing the single 5.9" and replacing them with the Model 1927 5.5" guns. As the 21.7" torpedoes came into service, two triple mounts replaced the German sets.
The 138mm/40 Model 1927 was developed from the German 15 cm (5.9") gun used on the destroyer V116, which was taken over by France at the end of World War I and renamed Amiral Sénès. Like the German weapon, the Model 1927 was fitted with a horizontal sliding wedge breech-block of semi-automatic operation. The new model guns were far superior to the previous 1923 and 1925 models. The lighter shells made a difference for crew fatigue. An over run order was placed for these ships and these model guns had been originally intended for the Le Fantasque class before its plans were recast for the new 5.1" DP turrets. The over run guns were retrofitted to the previous contre-torpilleur classes.
The smaller V125 type destroyers were withdrawn from front line service about 1930. They were then altered to many other tasks. The main task, five of the class were altered for, was as escort destroyers. With the militarism of Italy and Spain, moving further and further to the right wing of politics. The French high command became more paranoid about interference with the movement of troops from North Africa to mainland France. With Italy in the mix this could take any form, from surface ships, submarines or even aircraft.
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The five Rageot de la Touche class that were converted to destroyer escorts proved extremely useful. During 1939-40 they were heavily involved in the movement of troops from North Africa to mainland France. Those troops were then moved up to the front and integrated into the Allied lines. Once their work was done, three of the class were kept at Mers-el-Kebir as escorts to the Commandante Teste, while the other two went to Brest as escorts for ships going up and down the English Channel. Those two ships were sent to Plymouth and joined the Free French. They kept their role as coastal escorts and one was sunk in action with E-boats in 1942.
