CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

French destroyer Étendard

1908 Branlebas-class destroyer

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 16, 2025
Entity authorityQ9393641 ↗
Source-derived summary

Étendard was one of 10 Branlebas-class destroyers built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

During World War I, Étendard was torpedoed and sunk by an Imperial German Navy destroyer in the North Sea off Dunkirk, France, with the loss of all hands on 25 April 1917.

Construction and career

When the First World War began in August 1914, Étendard was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla (1re escadrille de torpilleurs) of the 2nd Light Squadron (2e escadre légère) based at Cherbourg.

References

Bibliography

Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333.

Editorial summary

“French destroyer Étendard” enters the record as 1908 Branlebas-class destroyer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what French, destroyer and Étendard can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1917, 1914, 1979, 1860—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around French, destroyer and Étendard.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“French destroyer Étendard” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, French, destroyer and Étendard provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q9393641. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1917, 1914, 1979 and 1860.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “French destroyer Étendard”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow French destroyer Étendard primary sources, French destroyer Étendard archive and French research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “French destroyer Étendard”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “French destroyer Étendard” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.