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Built at the Arsenal the Gironde at Bordeaux for the French Navy as a Avision Coloniaux (colonial sloop).
1927 keel laid down.
21 April 1931 launched under the name BOUGAINVILLE. She was the lead ship of this class of sloops, of which 10 were built.
Displacement 1.969 standard, 2.600 maximum. Dim. 103.70 x 12.70 x 4.50m.
Powered by two Sulzer diesels 3.200 hp., speed 17 knots maximum. Twin screws.
Radius 13.000 miles by a speed of 8.5 knots. Bunker capacity 297 tons.
Armament 3 – 138mm, 4 – 37mm, 6 machine guns of 13.2mm.
Could carry 50 mines.
Designed for tropical service with a special arrangement for circulation of cool air
Crew 14 officers and 121 men.
Commissioned in 1932.

First she was stationed in the Indian Ocean.
In 1939 she visited Kergeulen Islands for a hydrographical survey and to collect biological specimens.
11 Feb. 1939 the crew of the BOUGAINVILLE erected a stone by the Lozére waterfalls, in Hopeful Bay, where fishermen landed to take fresh water on board.
December 1939 was she at Toulon, France. After the war broke out she sailed to Morocco. May 1940 she joined the Vichy government navy.

07 Nov. 1940 during the liberation of Libreville, Gabon, the transport vessels FORT LAMY, NEVADA and CASAMAOCE landed troops from the foreign-legion under command of Leclerc in the Mondah Bay north of Libreville. During the landing the troops were supported by the COMMANDANT DOMINÈ and SAVORGNAN DE BRAZZA under command of Capt. Argenlieu, and the British cruiser DELHI and DEVONSHIRE.
The Vichy submarine POCELET under command of Capt. de Saussine tried to sink the British sloop MILFORD, but instead she had to surface due to depth-charges launched from the MILFORD, and the POCELET was scuttled by her own crew.
On 09 Nov. after many air raids on Libreville by Free French planes the Vichy sloop BOUGAINVILLE under Capt. Morin sailed out. Off Libreville, she was attacked by her sistership BAVORGNAN DE BRAZZA (F.N.F.L.) during a sharp engagement fire broke out on board the BOUGAINVILLE and she sank.
14 Nov. complete France Equatorial Africa was in the hands of the Gaulle and the Free French troops.

French Southern and Antarctic Terr. (TAAF) 2003 2.44 Euro, sg509, scott?


Source http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/40-11.htm http://users.swing.be/NavBattle/+navires/2799.html
http://www.netmarine.net/bat/divers/bougainv/ancien.htm Mr. Jean Louis Araignon.

TAAF issued 2023 one stamp for the visit of the RHM BOUGAINVILLE on Amsterdam Island in 1929.
In the absence of permanent occupation of the archipelago, the sloop BOUGAINVILLE was sent to Crozet in January 1939. Under the command of Fabre de la Ripelle, a ceremony with the colors was carried out on the Ile de la Possession, and a bollard bearing a bronze plate is set up above the Baie du Marin which receives this name on this occasion. Zoological, oceanographic, and magnetic observations are carried out during this expedition.
Leaving Diégo-Suarez on January 11, 1939, the BOUGAINVILLE called at Durban, anchored at Marion Island on January 23, at the Crozet Islands on January 27; he stayed from February 7 to 19 on the eastern coast of Kerguelen, then anchored on February 24 and 26 in Amsterdam and Saint-Paul, and returned to Diégo-Suarez on March 12, 1939, after a stopover in Reunion and in Mauritius.

More is given on: https://envelopmer.blogspot.com/search/ ... len%201939

TAAF 2023 1.16 Euro sg?, Scott?