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''Gustave Zédé'' was one of the world's earliest commissioned naval
submarines 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 o ...
. She was launched on 1 July 1893 at
Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is t ...
, France, although only formally entering service with 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 th ...
in May 1900 after a long series of trials and design alterations. The submarine carried out the first successful
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, s ...
attack by a submerged vessel against a surface ship. Initially ordered as ''Sirène'' on 4 October 1890, on 1 May 1891 the boat was renamed after Gustave Zédé, a naval architect who had worked on its design, but who died in 1891 following an explosion during the development of an experimental torpedo. Development followed on from the previous smaller design, . Both ships were electrically propelled using power from storage batteries.


Development

The French Navy had become interested in unconventional approaches to naval warfare in its attempts to face the numerically superior
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
, and was an early adopter of the torpedo and torpedo boat for use against battleships. As part of this program, they became interested in the submarine, able to approach undetected to within torpedo range. ''Gustave Zédé'' was the second experimental submarine developed for the French Navy. The ship's principal constructor was Gaston Romazotti who took control of the project after the death of Zédé in 1891. Construction and development took ten years, in part because interest in submarines in the French Navy came and went with the changing policies of different ministers of marine, and because of ongoing development of the design during this time.


Characteristics

The hull was made of
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
rather than steel to resist corrosion, which also allowed a magnetic compass to operate inside. It had a different profile fore and aft, unlike other submarines at this time which tended to be the same shape either end. Seventy-six longitudinal round ribs provided the strength of the hull. The boat had two centrally placed ballast tanks and trimming tanks at either end. Electric pumps were used to redistribute the water. There was a detachable central lead keel. The ship was initially fitted with manually operated diving rudder at the stern as in the design of , but proved difficult to maintain level or on a steady incline while diving or rising. Hydraulic hydroplanes were therefore added at the center of the ship and forwards. The ship was designed to dive to a depth of 50 ft. A periscope was fitted in the conning tower which gave a field of view 20° above and 7° below the horizon but the view was distorted and of limited use. The boat was electrically driven with power supplied by a bank of batteries. Two 360 hp Sauter-Harlé DC electric motors were coupled to the single propeller drive shaft operating at 250 rpm. Together the motors weighed 27 tons. The original Laurant-Celvieva battery configuration was of 720 cells weighing 130 tons capable of delivering 1800 A at 300 V. The battery system exploded on first charging causing a fire, so a new layout of only 360 cells was installed. This led to a significant reduction of surface speed from 15 to 8 knots. The boat had no alternative power source on board which could be used to recharge the batteries, unlike other contemporary designs such as the Holland VI design which had a petrol engine as well as batteries.


Service history

In December 1898 ''Gustave Zédé'' took part in naval exercises with the Mediterranean fleet commanded by Admiral François Fournier. The submarine successfully twice attacked the gunnery training ship , once at anchor and once while the battleship was underway, after travelling the forty miles from Toulon to the
Îles d'Hyères The Îles d'Hyères (), also known as Îles d'Or (), are a group of four Mediterranean islands off Hyères in the Var department of Southeastern France. Islands With a combined area of , the Îles d'Hyères consist of * Porquerolles – ...
. ''Gustave Zédé'' was commanded by Lieutenant Lucian Mottez. This was the first recorded successful attack by a submerged submarine using torpedoes against a surface target and was widely reported in naval circles.Lambert p.27-28 The British Naval Attaché reported that ''Gustave Zédé'' was observed approaching ''Magenta'' at a speed of and a distance of with four men on the bridge. The submarine then submerged until only the
conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...
was visible. At the conning tower had disappeared but some wash from the screw could be observed. The boat then submerged to a depth of . At the ship came to the surface momentarily to check her distance and course, before diving again and firing a torpedo at a range of , striking ''Magenta'' amidships. The submarine passed under the ship and resurfaced on the opposite side.Compton-Hall p.118-119 The exercise was repeated early in 1899 in front of the French Minister of Marine and invited journalists. The successful demonstration resulted in further funding to purchase more submarines for the French Navy.


Footnotes


References

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External links

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Castel, Marc: ''Gustave Zédé'' at Sous-marins Français 1863 - pagesperso-orange.fr
(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gustave Zede Submarines of the French Navy Ships built in France 1893 ships 19th-century submarines