The ''Émeraude''-class submarines consisted of six
submarine
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
s built for the
French Navy
The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
() during the first decade of the 20th century. One boat was sunk and another captured during the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and the survivors were
scrapped after the war.
Design and description
The ''Émeraude'' class were built as part of the
French Navy
The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
's 1903 building program to a
Maugas single-hull design.
[ The submarines displaced surfaced and submerged. They had an overall length of , a beam of , and a ]draft
Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...
of . They had an operational diving depth of . Their crew numbered 2 officers and 23 enlisted men.
For surface running, the boats were powered by two Sautter-Harlé diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...
s, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 300-metric-horsepower electric motor
An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...
. They could reach a maximum speed of on the surface and underwater. The ''Émeraude'' class had a surface endurance of at and a submerged endurance of at .
The boats were armed with four internal torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s, two in the bow and two in the stern, for which they carried six torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
es.[Garier 1998, pp. 18–19] and were the first French submarines to be equipped with a deck gun
A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret.
The main deck gun was a dual-purpose w ...
when they were fitted with a single gun in August 1915.[
]
Ships
See also
*List of submarines of France
The submarines of France include Nuclear submarine, nuclear attack submarines and nuclear ballistic missile submarines of various List of submarine classes, classes, operated by the French Navy as part of the Submarine forces (France), French Subma ...
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
French Submarines: 1863 - Now
(French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emeraude Class Submarine
Submarine classes
Ship classes of the French Navy