''Amiral Bourgois'' was one of four experimental

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 ...

s ordered 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 ...

in 1906. Each boat was built to a different design and ''Amiral Bourgois'' was intended to test a novel powerplant. The experimental diesel engines took over six years to build and greatly delayed the boat's completion until 1913. Although engine problems plagued the submarine throughout her service, she was commissioned shortly after the start of the

First World War 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 ...

in 1914, but never made an operational patrol. ''Amiral Bourgois'' was under repair when the war ended in 1918, but the work was cancelled shortly afterwards. The boat was struck the following year and offered for sale in 1920. There were no offers and she was used for torpedo testing in 1924–1926. The submarine was sold for

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

in 1927.

Background and description

The Board of Construction () intended to order 20 submarines for the 1906 naval program, including two large long-range experimental boats, one of which was a design by naval constructor Pierre Marc Bourdelle using an unproven Sabathé-cycle

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

. The board was preempted by Navy Minister ()

Gaston Thomson Gaston Thomson was a French politician born 29 January 1848 in Oran, French Algeria; died 14 May 1932 at Bône (Algeria). He was a member of the French Chamber of Deputies for the Department of Constantine for fifty years and three months. He w ...

who opened a competition for submarines that were faster on the surface and with longer range than the preceding on 6 February 1906. Surfaced requirements were for a maximum speed of , a range of without using an auxiliary fuel tank, and a range of with the extra fuel. Submerged, the boats had to have a maximum speed of and a range of at . Four designs were submitted, including Bourdelle's ''Amiral Bourgois'', all of which were authorized by the board, along with 16 s. The submarine was an enlarged version of the twin-hulled ''Brumaire'' design with a surfaced

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 ...

of and a submerged displacement of . The boat had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads in ...

of , 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 draft of .Roberts, p. 444 She had a metacentric height of when surfaced. Her crew numbered three officers and 26 sailors. The submarine's inner hull was divided into seven watertight compartments. The boat had two

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

s, one at the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

and the other below the forward torpedo room. She had three sets of

diving plane Diving planes, also known as hydroplanes, are control surfaces found on a submarine which allow the vessel to pitch its bow and stern up or down to assist in the process of submerging or surfacing the boat, as well as controlling depth when subm ...

s, fore, aft, and

amidships This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...

, to control her depth below the water. The boat was fitted with 16

ballast tank A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water, which is used as ballast to provide hydrostatic stability for a vessel, to reduce or control buoyancy, as in a submarine, to correct trim or list, ...

s in the space between the inner and outer hulls, plus a single interior tank. ''Amiral Bourgois'' carried of

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

. On the surface, the boat was powered by a pair of

four-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

Sabathé-cycle diesel engines built by Schneider et Cie, each driving one three-bladed,

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

. The engines were designed to develop a total of and a speed of . When submerged the propellers were driven by two electric motors using electricity from two 120-cell

batteries Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

. During her sea trials ''Amiral Bourgois'' reached from on the surface and underwater. The boat demonstrated a range of at , submerged, she had a range of at . Internally, ''Amiral Bourgois'' was armed with two superimposed torpedo tubes in the bow. Externally, the boat had one tube at the stern and two pairs of rotating

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 ...

s, one pair each fore and aft of the

sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

. The submarine was equipped with Modèle 1911V torpedoes. These had a warhead and a range of at a speed of .

Construction and career

''Amiral Bourgois'', named for the naval architect and

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Siméon Bourgois Siméon Bourgois was a 19th-century French Navy vice-admiral who was especially involved in the development of early submarines. He was born in Thionville, Lorraine, on 26 March 1815, and died in Paris on 24 December 1887. He held the rank of ...

, who had designed the first ,Garier, p. 205 was ordered on 31 December 1906 from the Rochefort Naval Base (). She was laid down on 19 May 1908 and was launched on 25 November 1912. Her diesels had been ordered on 15 January 1906, but did not arrive until 4 May 1912 and proved very unreliable in service, seriously delaying completion. Sea trials of her electric motors on the surface began on 21 July 1913 and testing of her diesels began on 19 August and lasted through 4 March 1914. The submarine had made a test dive down to a depth of on 27 February. Underwater testing of her electric motors was conducted on 7–10 July. At some point during her trials a "walking deck" was installed over her outer hull to improve surface operations.Garier, pp. 203–204 The boat was commissioned on 7 August, shortly after the beginning of the First World War, and was assigned to the 2nd Light Squadron () defending the English Channel. By the time ''Amiral Bourgois'' was transferred from

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

a month later, her diesel engines had only run for nine hours. The boat made no operational patrols and did not conduct the endurance trials of her diesels until 17 December 1916. The vice admiral commanding the squadron commented on 11 April 1917 that the submarine was never available for operations and recommended that she be disposed of. ''Amiral Bourgois'' struck a rock on the approaches to Brest on 15 May 1917 and a deck gun was installed on 10 August. The submarine was transferred to the Normandy submarine squadron in January 1918, but was reassigned to the School of Underwater Navigation at Toulon on 13 May to get her engines repaired. The work was ordered to be stopped on 25 November and she was struck from the navy list on 12 November 1919. Although she was subsequently listed for sale, ''Amiral Bourgois'' was taken off the list and reserved for torpedo testing on 21 March 1924. The submarine was sold for scrap at a price of 176,135 francs on 25 June 1927.

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amiral Bourgois World War I submarines of France 1912 ships Submarine classes