French destroyer Dague

Dague was ordered on 26 August 1908 as part of the 1908 naval program from C.A. Gironde. She was laid down at the company's shipyard at Lormont near Bordeaux on the Gironde estuary in 1910. The ship was launched on 27 June 1911 and began her sea trials on 20 February 1912. Dague was commissioned on 20 May 1912 and was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla (1^ère escadrille de torpilleurs) of the 1st Naval Army in the Mediterranean. Shortly after the start of the First World War, the flotilla escorted the battle fleet during the Battle of Antivari on 16 August and when they bombarded the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro, Montenegro, on 1 September. Four days later, the fleet covered the evacuation of Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro, to the Greek island of Corfu. The flotilla escorted multiple small convoys loaded with supplies and equipment to Antivari (now known as Bar), Montenegro, beginning in October and lasting for the rest of the year, always covered by the larger ships of the Naval Army in futile attempts to lure the Austro-Hungarian fleet into battle. Amidst these missions, the 1st and 6th Flotillas were led by the French destroyer Dehorter as they conducted a sweep south of Cattaro on the night of 10/11 November in an unsuccessful search for Austro-Hungarian destroyers.^[4]

The torpedoing of the French battleship Jean Bart on 21 December 1914 caused a change in French tactics as the battleships were too important to risk to submarine attack. Henceforth, only the destroyers would escort the transports, covered by cruisers at a distance of 20–50 miles (32–80 km) from the transports. The first convoy of 1915 to Antivari arrived on 11 January and was followed by two others in over the next few weeks. An Austro-Hungarian force of one destroyer and two torpedo boats bombarded Antivari on 14 February and were able to lay some mines in the harbor. That same day Dague ferried General Paul Pau to Athens, Greece, for consultations with the Greek government. Dague and her sister Faulx were the close escort for the two transports of the next convoy that arrived on 23 February. The following evening, Dague was struck by a drifting mine in the harbor while at anchor and broke in half with the loss of 38 crewmen.^[5][6][7] The ship was struck from the navy list on 25 February.^[2]

The ship's wreck lay undisturbed until expansion of the harbor facilities in 1973 forced its removal. The wreck was cut into five pieces and moved to its current location, except for the stern. The bow has been buried by more recent construction, but the middle three sections are diveable at a depth of 18 m (59 ft).^[8]

• Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
• Freivogel, Zvonimir (2019). The Great War in the Adriatic Sea 1914–1918. Zagreb: Despot Infinitus. ISBN 978-953-8218-40-8.
• Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome I 1914–1915 [The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book I 1914–1915]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 23. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN 978-2-37468-000-2.
• Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.