French destroyer Maillé Brézé

The French destroyer Maillé Brézé lies in the River Clyde near Greenock in Inverclyde. The wreck is a Vauquelin-class destroyer built in the early 1930s for the French Navy. She served mainly in the Mediterranean before being transferred to the North Atlantic in 1940. The ship was named after a 17th-century French admiral and fought in the Spanish Civil War. In April 1940 she was lost after an accidental explosion while anchored off Scotland. The wreck was not raised until 1954 and was later broken up. The destroyer measured 129 metres long and displaced over 2,400 tonnes. Her five 138-millimetre guns and torpedo tubes were typical of French contre-torpilleurs of the period. During trials she briefly reached 40 knots, faster than her designed speed. The ship carried depth charges and mines for convoy escort work. Her crew numbered more than 200 men in wartime. After the explosion most of the crew survived and were rescued by nearby vessels. Visitors can see the wreck where it settled upright on the riverbed. The hull is largely intact and clearly shows the ship’s layout. The upper works are scattered around the site, creating an underwater landscape. The wreck lies in about 12 metres of water, close to the shore at Tail of the Bank. Divers explore the engine rooms and gun positions still visible inside. The site is recognised as a war grave and is treated with respect.