The ''Persée'' was a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

in the

navies A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...

of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

and

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

. Belonging to the M6 series, it was launched in 1931. The vessel was damaged by an explosion while undergoing

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s off the coast of France, killing two aboard and wounding several others. Based at

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

at the onset of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, ''Persée'' joined in the search for the German merchant fleet still at sea. The vessel joined the Vichy France Navy and transferred first to

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

then

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

. ''Persée'' was attacked at Dakar where the submarine was

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

ed on the surface by a British ship. The vessel was set afire and sank, with the entirety of the crew rescued save one.

Description

''Persée'' was part of a semi-homogenous class of thirty-one submarines designed for oceangoing patrols and entering service between 1931 and 1939. long and 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 , their maximum diving depth was . Their

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was 1,572 tonnes on the surface and 2,082 tonnes submerged. Surface propulsion was provided by two diesel motors with a total of , giving a maximum surface speed of , with electric propulsion of giving a submerged speed of . They had a surface range of at 10 knots and a submerged range of at .

History

Early career

Laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 14 April 1929 with the hull number Q154, the submarine was launched on 23 May 1931. On 26 September 1932, two months after the loss of the , another incident killed six sailors and workers at the naval docks in Cherbourg. Commissioning under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Bertrand, the ''Persée'' left for

trials In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

off pointe de Jardeheu, a few miles to the west of Cherbourg. The

crankcase In a piston engine, the crankcase is the housing that surrounds the crankshaft. In most modern engines, the crankcase is integrated into the engine block. Two-stroke engines typically use a crankcase-compression design, resulting in the fuel/a ...

s of the

Schneider Schneider may refer to: Hospital * Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel People * Schneider (surname) Companies and organizations * G. Schneider & Sohn, a Bavarian brewery company * Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, the former owner of th ...

diesel motors leaked oil and then exploded, killing two men and wounding several others, including the vessel's second in command, ''lieutenant de vaisseau''

Jean L'Herminier Jean L'Herminier (25 July 1902 - 7 June 1953) was a French naval officer, most notable for his command of the ''Redoutable''-class submarine '' Casabianca''. Life 1902-1940 Born into a naval family in Fort-de-France, he studied at the Collège ...

, future commander of the during the

. The submarine was towed back to Cherbourg by the ''Simon-Duhamel II'', a trawler operating from Fecamp, escorted by the submarine , whose doctor treated the wounded. The ''Persée'' then entered service on 10 June 1934.

Second World War

At the start of the Second World War she, , and formed the 6th submarine division, based at

. ''Persée'' and ''Poncelet'' patrolled off the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, whence part of the German merchant fleet had fled and from which they were suspected to be acting as supply ships for German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

s. The pair of submarines returned to Cherbourg on 12 October. During the German advance in spring the next year she left Cherbourg for Brest, departing the latter at 18:30 on 18 June in tandem with the supply ship ''Jules Verne'', ''Ajax'', ''Poncelet'', ''Casabianca'', and nine other submarines, arriving at

on 23 June. After the British

attack on Mers-el-Kébir The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir (Battle of Mers-el-Kébir) on 3 July 1940, during the Second World War, was a British naval attack on neutral French Navy ships at the naval base at Mers El Kébir, near Oran, on the coast of French Algeria. The atta ...

on 3 July, she and ''Ajax'' patrolled along the Moroccan coast. From 19 July onwards ''Poncelet'' and ''Persée'' were instead based at

. From 26 to 29 August ''Persée'' escorted the cable-laying ship ''Alsace'', which had been sent to repair the cable between Casablanca and Dakar, which the British had cut off Cap Juby. On 23 September Dakar was attacked by British and Free French forces. torpedoed the ''Persée'' on the surface off

Cap Manuel Cap-Vert, or the Cape Verde Peninsula, is a peninsula in Senegal and the westernmost point of the continent of Africa and of the Afro-Eurasia mainland. Portuguese explorers called it Cabo Verde or "Green Cape". The Cape Verde islands, further ...

but failed to sink her. However, British

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s continued to hunt her and - unable to dive due to

shoals In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It o ...

- she was seriously damaged and set on fire. Her whole crew except one quartermaster was then picked up by the aviso .

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Persee Redoutable-class submarines (1928) 1931 ships Ships built in France World War II submarines of France Lost submarines of France Maritime incidents in September 1940 Submarines sunk by British warships World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean