The Chacal-class, sometimes known as the Jaguar class, were a group of six French navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

 large destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s (contre-torpilleur) built commencing 1923. Designed as larger, more capable counterparts to the Bourasque class, they set a standard for French destroyer design until the mid-1930s. All were named for wild animals: Chacal means jackal

Jackal

Although the word jackal has been historically used to refer to many small- to medium-sized species of the wolf genus of mammals, Canis, today it most properly and commonly refers to three species: the black-backed jackal and the side-striped jackal of sub-Saharan Africa, and the golden jackal of...

, and the other five were named for big cats.

Ships

The class saw service in the Second World War.

Ship	Pennant Numbers	Builder	Commissioned	Fate
Chacal French destroyer Chacal The Chacal was a large destroyer of the French Navy which served during the Second World War.-History:Chacal was launched in 1924 and commissioned in 1925...	2; G2; 7; 9; -3; X23	AT Ch de St Nazaire Panhoet	12 June 1926	lost on 24 May 1940, being sunk off Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer -Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....  by German aircraft. The wreck lies in only 2 meters of water in position 50.47.58N, 01.35.44E
Jaguar	-1; X21	Arsenal de Lorient	24 July 1926	sunk on 23 May 1940 after being torpedoed by two German torpedo boat Torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and... s near Dunkerque. 13 members of the crew went down with the ship, another 23 were injured. The wreck lies in 8 meters of water in position 51.03.26N, 02.22.12E.
Léopard French destroyer Léopard The Léopard was a Chacal class destroyer of the French Navy. As one of the large destroyers of her time, she was designed to escort convoys, large naval units, or serve as a light cruiser in remote sectors of the French Empire...	7; 2; -2; X22	AT Ch de La Loire St Nazaire	10 October 1927	The ship was seized by the Royal Navy Royal Navy The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...  in Portsmouth on 3 July 1940, and was transferred to the Free French on 31 August. She was stranded and wrecked north of Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, the main city of the Cyrenaica region , and the former provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. The wider metropolitan area is also a district of Libya...  on 27 May 1943.
Lynx French destroyer Lynx Lynx was a of the French Navy. On 3 July 1940 she was stationed at Mers-el-Kébir but managed to escape after the allied attack. On 27 November 1942 Lynx was scuttled at Toulon with the rest of the French fleet to prevent German capture....	12, 15, X42	AT Ch de La Loire St Nazaire	10 October 1927	see below
Panthère	1, 5, 8, 9, 12, 11, 13, 14, X23, X43	Arsenal de Lorient	10 October 1926	see below
Tigre	3, G3, 6, 7, 11, 10, 13, X41	AC de Bretagne Nantes	1 February 1926	see below

• Lynx, Panthère and Tigre were scuttled at Toulon
  Toulon
  Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
  
   on 27 November 1942 to prevent them being requisitioned by the Germans. The Germans later raised them: Lynx was broken up for scrap metal
  Scrap Metal
  Scrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with...
  
  . Panthère and Tigre were repaired and transferred to the Italian navy. Panthère was then scuttled again at La Spezia
  La Spezia
  La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...
  
  on 9 September 1943. Tigre, the only ship of the class to survive the war, was transferred once more to the Free French on 29 October 1943, and she was decommissioned on 4 January 1954.