French submarine ''Joule'' (Q84) was a Laubeuf type submarineJane p199 of the ''Brumaire'' class, 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 ...

prior to

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 ...

.Conway p209

Design and construction

''Joule'' was ordered by the French Navy as part of its 1906 programme and was laid down at the Toulon Naval Yard in November of that year. Work progressed slowly, and she was not launched until 7 September 1911. She was commissioned on 10 May 1912. ''Joule'' was equipped with licence-built

M.A.N. MAN SE (abbreviation of ''Maschinenfabrik Augsburg- Nürnberg'', ) was a manufacturing and engineering company based in Munich, Germany. Its primary output was commercial vehicles and diesel engines through its MAN Truck & Bus and MAN Latin Am ...

diesel engines for surface propulsion, and electric motors for power while submerged. She carried eight torpedoes, two internally and six externally. ''Joule'' was named for

James Prescott Joule James Prescott Joule (; 24 December 1818 11 October 1889) was an English physicist, mathematician and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work (see energy). ...

, the 19th century British physicist.Castel

Service history

At the outbreak 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 ...

''Joule'' was part of the French Mediterranean Fleet. In the spring of 1915 she was dispatched as part of a French task force to assist in the naval assault on the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

, the first stage of the Gallipoli campaign. At the end of April, under the command of Lt. L Aubert Dupetit-Thouars, ''Joule'' began an attempt to penetrate the straits in order to attack Turkish shipping in the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via t ...

. However, on 1 May 1915 all contact was lost. It was later established ''Joule'' ran into a Turkish minefield, struck a mine, and was sunk. All 31 of her crew were lost.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * Moore, J: ''Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I'' (1919, reprinted 2003)

External links

Castel, Marc: ''Joule'' at Sous-marins Français 1863 - pagesperso-orange.fr
(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Joule Brumaire-class submarines World War I submarines of France 1911 ships Ships built in France Maritime incidents in 1915 World War I shipwrecks in the Dardanelles Ships sunk by mines