The ''Aigrette''-class submarines were a class of two submarines built for the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
between 1903 and 1905. They were essentially experimental submarines, and although in service during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, saw no action. The class was designed by
Maxime Laubeuf
Maxime Laubeuf was a French maritime engineer of the late nineteenth century. He was born on 23 November 1864 at Poissy, Yvelines, and died on 23 December 1939 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes.
Laubeuf was a pioneer in the design and building of s ...
and used
Drzewiecki drop collar
The Drzewiecki drop collar was an external torpedo launching system most commonly used by the French and Imperial Russian Navies in the first two decades of the 20th century. It was designed by Stefan Drzewiecki, a Polish engineer and inventor ...
launchers and external cradles to launch torpedoes.
Design
The submarines had a
surfaced displacement of and a submerged displacement of . The dimensions were long, with a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a
draught of . They had a single shaft powered by one diesel engine for surface running of and an electric motor which produced for submerged propulsion. The maximum speed was on the surface and while submerged with a surfaced range of at and a submerged range of at . Their complement was 14 men.
[Gardiner, p. 208][Fontenoy, p. 79]
Their armament comprised two
Drzewiecki drop collar
The Drzewiecki drop collar was an external torpedo launching system most commonly used by the French and Imperial Russian Navies in the first two decades of the 20th century. It was designed by Stefan Drzewiecki, a Polish engineer and inventor ...
torpedo launchers and two external cradles.
Ships
See also
*
List of submarines of France
The submarines of France include nuclear attack submarines and nuclear ballistic missile submarines of various classes, operated by the French Navy as part of the French Submarine Forces.
Each French Navy vessel, including French submarines have ...
References
Citations
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{{WWI French ships
World War I submarines of France
Ship classes of the French Navy