Pluviôse-class submarine

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.

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: 1908–1911
In commission: 1908–1919
Completed: 18
Lost: 5
Scrapped: 13
General characteristics (as built)
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:
  • 700 PS (510 kW; 690 bhp) (steam)
  • 2 × du Temple boilers
  • 460 PS (340 kW; 450 bhp) (electric motors)
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:

Design and description
Right profile diagram of the Pluviôse class

The Pluviôse class were built as part of the French Navy's 1905 building program to a double-hull design by Maxime Laubeuf.[1] The submarines displaced 404 metric tons (398 long tons) surfaced and 553 metric tons (544 long tons) submerged. They had an overall length of 51.12 meters (167 ft 9 in), a beam of 4.96 meters (16 ft 3 in), and a draft of 3.15 meters (10 ft 4 in). Thermidor differed from her sisters as she was built to test the hull shape planned for the following Brumaire class. She had an overall length of 52.15 m (171 ft 1 in), a beam of 5.42 m (17 ft 9 in) and displaced 396 t (390 long tons) on the surface and 551 t (542 long tons) underwater. The submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 23 enlisted men.[2]

For surface running, the boats were powered by two 350-metric-horsepower (345 bhp; 257 kW) triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by two Du Temple boilers. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 230-metric-horsepower (227 bhp; 169 kW) electric motor.[3] On the surface they were designed to reach a maximum speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) and 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) underwater.[1] The submarines had a surface endurance of 865 nautical miles (1,602 km; 995 mi) at 11.6 knots (21.5 km/h; 13.3 mph) and a submerged endurance of 70 nmi (130 km; 81 mi) at 2.8 knots (5.2 km/h; 3.2 mph).[4]

The first six boats completed (Pluviôse, Messidor, Ventôse, Germinal, Floréal and Prairial) were armed with a single 450-millimeter (17.7 in) internal bow torpedo tube, but after an accident that lead to the sinking of Fresnel in 1909, the tubes were removed from Pluviôse and Messidor. A ministerial order of 18 March 1910 added one to Vendémiaire while she was still under construction, but the bow tubes were deleted from the rest of the class. All of the boats were fitted with six 450 mm external torpedo launchers; the pair firing forward were fixed outwards at an angle of seven degrees and the rear pair had an angle of five degrees. Following a ministerial order on 22 February 1910, the aft tubes were reversed so they too fired forward, but at an angle of eight degrees. The other launchers were a rotating pair of Drzewiecki drop collars in a single mount positioned on top of the hull at the stern. They could traverse 150 degrees to each side of the boat. The Pluviôse-class submarines carried eight torpedoes; those with bow tubes carried their reload in the torpedo compartment.[5]

Ships in class
Pluviôse-class submarines
NameBuilder[1]Laid down[6]Launched[1]Commissioned[7]Fate[7]
Ampère Q68Arsenal de Toulon190630 October 19091 November 1910Stricken, 12 November 1919
Berthelot Q66Arsenal de Rochefort19 May 19091 February 1910Stricken, 1 December 1919
Cugnot Q7614 October 190910 September 1910
Floréal Q54Arsenal de Cherbourg18 October 190816 June 1909Sunk in collision with British armed boarding steamer HMS Hazel, 2 August 1918
Fresnel Q65Arsenal de Rochefort16 June 190822 February 1911Torpedoed by Austro-Hungarian destroyers, 5 February 1915
Fructidor Q58Arsenal de Cherbourg13 November 190929 June 1910Stricken, 12 November 1919
Gay-Lussac Q69Arsenal de Toulon17 March 191014 January 1911Stricken, 1 December 1919
Germinal Q53Arsenal de Cherbourg7 December 190730 December 1908
Giffard Q77Arsenal de Rochefort10 February 191013 October 1910
Messidor Q56Arsenal de Cherbourg24 December 190830 November 1909Stricken, 12 November 1919
Monge Q67Arsenal de Toulon31 December 19082 August 1910Rammed by Austro-Hungarian scout cruiser SMS Helgoland, 29 December 1915
Papin Q64Arsenal de Rochefort4 January 19081 September 1909Unknown
Pluviôse Q51Arsenal de Cherbourg27 May 19075 October 1908Sunk in collision, 26 May 1910. Raised and repaired. Stricken, 12 November 1919
Prairial Q5526 September 190816 June 1909Sunk in collision with SS Tropic, 29 April 1918
Thermidor Q573 July 190913 July 1910Stricken, 12 November 1919
Vendémiaire Q597 July 19104 February 1911Sunk in collision with French battleship Saint Louis, 8 June 1912
Ventôse Q5215 September 19075 October 1908Stricken, 1 December 1919
Watt Q75Arsenal de Rochefort18 June 190915 March 1910

Service

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 and Priarial, were lost accidentally during the conflict, while Monge and Fresnel were lost in action.[1]

Notes
  1. Gardiner & Gray, p. 209
  2. Garier 1998, pp. 51, 54, 56, 65
  3. Garier 1998, pp. 56–59
  4. Garier 1998, p. 67
  5. Garier 1998, pp. 59–60
  6. Couhat, p. 140
  7. Garier 1998, pp. 49–50

Bibliography
  • Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
  • Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Garier, Gérard (2002). A l'épreuve de la Grande Guerre. L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France (in French). 3–2. Bourg-en-Bresse, France: Marines édition. ISBN 2-909675-81-5.
  • Garier, Gérard (1998). Des Émeraude (1905–1906) au Charles Brun (1908–1933). L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France (in French). 2. Bourg-en-Bresse, France: Marines édition. ISBN 2-909675-34-3.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). "Classement par types". Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 2, 1870 - 2006. Toulon: Roche. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
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