French cruiser Châteaurenault (D 606)

For other ships with the same name, see French cruiser Châteaurenault.

Chateaurenault (D 606) was a French Capitani Romani-class light cruiser, acquired as war reparations from Italy in 1947 which served in the French Navy from 1948 to 1961. She was named in honour of François Louis de Rousselet, Marquis de Châteaurenault. In Italian service, the ship was named Attilio Regolo after Marcus Atilius Regulus the Roman statesman and general who was a consul of the Roman Republic in 267 BC and 256 BC.

Chateaurenault, the former Attilio Regolo
History
Italy
Name	Attilio Regolo
Ordered	1937
Builder	O.T.O., Livorno
Laid down	28 September 1939
Launched	28 August 1940
Commissioned	15 May 1942
Fate	Ceded to France as war reparations, 1947
History
France
Name	Chateaurenault
Namesake	François Louis de Rousselet, Marquis de Châteaurenault
Commissioned	1948
Decommissioned	1961
Stricken	1975
Fate	Scrapped, 1979
General characteristics
Type	Light cruiser
Displacement	3,750 long tons (3,810 t) standard 5,420 long tons (5,510 t) full load
Length	142.2 m (466 ft 6 in) overall
Beam	14.4 m (47 ft 3 in)
Draught	4.1 m (13 ft 5 in)
Propulsion	2 shaft geared turbines 4 boilers 110,000 hp (82,000 kW)
Speed	41 knots (76 km/h; 47 mph)[1]
Range	4,350 nmi (8,060 km; 5,010 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	418
Sensors & processing systems	Gufo radar
Armament	4 × twin 135 mm (5.3 in) guns 4 × twin 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 8 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) guns 2 × quadruple 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes 70 ×mines

History

Italian service

Attilio Regolo was commissioned in August 1942 in Livorno. She was torpedoed by the submarine HMS Unruffled on 7 November 1942, and remained in drydock for several months with her bow shattered.^[2] She was interned in Port Mahon in the island of Menorca, Spain, after the armistice on 9 September 1943.^[3]

French service

After the Peace Treaty on 10 February 1947, she and her sister ship Scipione Africano were transferred to France as war reparations (Scipione Africano was renamed Guichen). The ships were extensively rebuilt for the French Navy by La Seyne dockyard with new anti-aircraft-focused armament and fire-control systems in 1951–1954 with the following changes:

• Armament
  • 6 – 105 mm guns (three twin turrets of German origin)
  • 10 – 57 mm guns (5 twin turrets)
  • 12 – 550 mm torpedo tubes
• Sensors: Radar DRBV 20 A, DRBV 11, DRBC 11, DRBC 30, Sonar
• Crew: 353

The ships were decommissioned in 1961.^[4]