Interesting photo of French ships at Toulon in 1971

Note the pair of sister destroyers, Surcouf class. The nearer one is Surcouf herself, or perhaps we should just say couf since the forward part of the ship broke off and sank after a collision with a Russian merchant tanker.

Surcouf's two twin 57mm mounts amidships have been removed. The class originally had a third 57mm forward, but it was removed from Surcouf and the intact Chevalier Paul alongside so the forward superstructure could be enlarged for the ships to serve as flagships.

The remnant of Surcouf was expended as a target in 1972.

p.s. I tried to post this in Cool Pix