Pluviôse-class submarine

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A postcard of Vendémiaire in harbor, 8 June 1912, before her collision with the battleship Saint Louis
Class overview
Name: Pluviôse class
Operators:  French Navy
Preceded by: Circé class
Succeeded by: Brumaire class
Subclasses: Thermidor
Built: 1908–11
In commission: 1908–19
Completed: 18
Lost: 5
Scrapped: 13
General characteristics
Type: Submarine
Displacement:
  • 404 t (398 long tons) (surfaced)
  • 553 t (544 long tons) (submerged)
Length: 51.12 m (167 ft 9 in) (o/a)
Beam: 4.96 m (16 ft 3 in)
Draft: 3.15 m (10 ft 4 in)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Speed:
  • 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) (surfaced)
  • 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (submerged)
Range:
  • 1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) (surfaced)
  • 27 nmi (50 km; 31 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) (submerged)
Complement: 2 officers and 23 crewmen
Armament:
  • 1 × 450 mm (17.7 in) bow torpedo tube (first 6 boats only)
  • 1 × twin 450 mm Drzewiecki drop collar
  • 4 × external 450 mm torpedo launchers (4 × facing forward, 2 × aft)

The Pluviôse-class submarines were a group of 18 submarines built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Before World War I, two were accidentally lost, but one of these was salvaged and put back into service. Four others were lost during the war and the survivors were stricken in 1919.

Naming

The French Navy built 34 Laubeuf-type submarines between 1906 and 1911. These are usually described as two classes, of which the Pluviôse class was one, the other being the Brumaire class.[1] (Another source[2] treats the vessels as one group, divided by the yards that built them) The boats had two naming schemes; the earlier vessels were named after the months of the French Revolutionary calendar, and the later ones after French scientists. However the difference is not reflected in the class division; nine boats of the Pluviose class were named for the months, and nine for scientists.

Design

The Pluviôse class were Laubeuf type submarines, following the Laubeuf standard design of double hull and dual propulsion systems (as did the Brumaire class). The Pluviôse boats had electric motors for underwater propulsion, and are usually listed as having steam engines for surface propulsion, though in practice this was mixed. The earlier boats had steam engines (preferred by Laubeuf in the early stages as he felt petrol engines (favoured by his rival JP Holland) were unsafe; however, later Laubeuf type submarines, such as the Circé class, predecessors to the Pluviôse and Brumaire classes, had used diesel engines, and later Pluviôse boats had diesels.

Construction

The Pluviôse class were ordered in the 1905 programme and the first vessels were laid down in 1906. They were built at three of the French Navy’s dockyards, at the Arsenals of Cherbourg, Rochefort and Toulon. The first of the class, Pluviôse, was launched in May 1907, and the last, Gay Lussac in March 1910.[1]

Armament

The Pluviôse-class submarines were armed with 17.7-inch (450 mm) torpedoes, of which eight were carried. They had one 17.7 inch torpedo tube mounted in the bow, with one torpedo loaded and one carried as a reload, and six carried externally. Of these two were in Drzewiecki drop-collars and four in external cradles alongside the conning tower, two trained forward and two aft.[1]

Service history

The Pluviôse class were acknowledged to be good sea boats and saw action throughout the First World War on patrol and close blockade duty. Of the eighteen built, five were lost. One (Vendémiaire) was accidentally lost prior to the war, in 1912. Two others (Floréal, Priarial) were lost accidentally during the conflict. Two others (Monge, Fresnel) were lost in action.[1]

Ships in class

Pluviose class submarines[1][2]
Name Pennant number Builder Launched Fate
Ampère Q68 Arsenal de Toulon 30.10.09 Stricken 1919
Berthelot Q66 Arsenal de Rochefort 19.5.09 Stricken 1919
Cugnot Q76 Arsenal de Rochefort 14.10.09 Stricken 1919
Floréal Q54 Arsenal de Cherbourg 18.4.08 Accidental loss: Sunk 2.8.1918 in collision with Armed Boarding Steamer HMS Hazel
Fresnel Q65 Arsenal de Rochefort 16.6.08 Sunk 5.2.1915: torpedoed by Austro-Hungarian destroyers
Fructidor Q58 Arsenal de Cherbourg 13.11.09 Stricken 1919
Gay-Lussac Q69 Arsenal de Toulon 17.3.10 Stricken 1919
Germinal Q53 Arsenal de Cherbourg 7.12.07 Stricken 1919
Giffard Q77 Arsenal de Rochefort 10.2.10 Stricken 1919
Messidor Q56 Arsenal de Cherbourg 24.12.08 Stricken 1919
Monge Q67 Arsenal de Toulon 31.12.08 Sunk 29.12.1915: rammed by Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Helgoland
Papin Q64 Arsenal de Rochefort 4.1.08 Stricken 1919
Pluviôse Q51 Arsenal de Cherbourg 27.5.07 Sunk in collision 26 May 1910. Raised and repaired. Stricken 1919
Priarial Q55 Arsenal de Cherbourg 26.9.08 Accidental loss: Sunk 29.4.1918 off Le Havre in collision with SS Tropic
Thermidor Q57 Arsenal de Cherbourg 3.7.09 Stricken 1919
Vendémiaire Q59 Arsenal de Cherbourg 7.7.07 Accidental loss: Sunk 8.6.1912 in collision with French battleship Saint Louis
Ventôse Q52 Arsenal de Cherbourg 15.9.07 Stricken 1919
Watt Q75 Arsenal de Rochefort 18.6.09 Stricken 1919

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Gardiner 1985, pp. 209
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jane's p199

Bibliography

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  • Moore, J: Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I (1919, reprinted 2003) ISBN 1 85170 378 0
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External links

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