their charges tended to cause leaks in the hull when used, although two were reinstalled after the war began in 1939. Space and weight was reserved for a pair of Ginocchio towed anti-submarine torpedoes, but these were a failure and were never used in combat. Space was reserved for an unsuccessful French sonar system that was cancelled in September 1930. The NGS also intended to fit a passive Walser acoustic locator system in the Chacal class, but only was actually fitted with one. This consisted of a set of two steel lenses, one set on each side of the ship, with a large number of diaphragms that ambient amplified sound for the operator. This proved useless while the ship was moving faster than dead slow and was removed in 1931. The Walser compartment was reused when a British Type 123 ASDIC system was installed aboard the ships in 1939–40, although Panthère did not receive one. Ships Service The first three ships to be commissioned, Tigre, Chacal, and Panthère, were assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron at Toulon, and the last three were assigned to the Second Squadron (2ème Escadre) at Brest. The ships made many port visits and participated in several naval reviews during the 1920s and early 1930s. Several even made visits to French West Africa and the French West Indies in the early 1930s. Jaguar served as the flagship of several different destroyer (torpilleur d'escadre) flotillas from 1928 to 1937. The Chacal-class ships started to become dedicated training ships beginning in 1932 and continued to do so until the beginning of World War II. Jaguar, Léopard and Panthère were assigned to the Northern Command (Forces maritimes du Nord) on 7 September in anticipation of a German invasion of Belgium. They proved, however, to be too large and unmaneuverable for operations in the shallow waters of the English Channel and North Sea; Panthère ran aground on 10 September in poor visibility, but suffered only minor damage, and Jaguar did the same thing on the night of 28/29 October. The contre-torpilleurs were relieved by smaller torpilleurs d'escadre beginning in mid-October. The other ships were assigned to the Western Command (Forces maritimes de l'Ouest) for convoy escort duties from October 1939 to May 1940 where they guarded convoys traveling between Gibraltar and Brest as well as Casablanca, French Morocco, and Le Verdon-sur-Mer. They were joined by the first three ships as they