The Le Fier class grew out of the 1930's London Naval Treaty's. The treaty had a clause where vessels under 600 tons had no limits. Most navies tried out this limit, the UK had their Kingfisher corvettes, the French had their La Melpomene class. Because I scrap the London Naval treaties the La Melpomene never gets built. But the Le Fier class were a much more normal 1000 ton type of torpedo boat and were laid down in 1937 with the first two due to be completed in June/July 1940.
The first two ships were running their trials in the Rade de Brest when the Armistice came. Both ships embarked as many crew and potential crew aboard ship and sailed for Plymouth. Both ships were caught up in Operation Catapult/Operation Grasp and turned over to the Free French. The ships were then transferred to Belfast for completion with electronic warfare aids and replacement parts for the torpedo tubes as neither ship had had any torpedoes loaded when they left France. The Commonwealth 21" would not work in the French tubes so they had to be replaced.
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The Le Fier was perfect for the Hedgehog project with its aft main armament allowing for the Hedgehog to be placed in A position. Le Fier spent the last part of 1940 and early 1941 on this duty and was then seconded to convoy duty out of Liverpool.
Le Fier Class in German service.
There were eventually 15 of the class laid down. Four in 1937, four in 1938 and a further seven in 1939. The two that joined the Free French Navy saw out the war and were part of the French Navy through to the end of the 1940's when their diminutive size made them excess to requirements and they were sold overseas. Ships three and four of the class were 90% complete and captured by the Germans. The Germans managed to complete the ships as TA1 and TA2. Both ships were sunk during the war. The other hulls were anything from 65% complete down to parts on the slipway. Despite their best efforts the Germans were unable to complete any more of the class and the hulls were scrapped post war (or cancelled before being laid down).
