The French destroyer Léopard was a Chacal-class destroyer built for the French Navy during the 1920s. She became a training ship in the mid-1930s before serving as a convoy escort during World War II before the Germans invaded France in May 1940. After that time, she bombarded advancing German forces near the northern French coast and took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. After the surrender of France, she was seized by the British in July and turned over to the Free French.