Circé-class submarine

Class overview

Name:	Circé-class
Operators:	French Navy
Built:	1925–1927
In commission:	1927–1940
Completed:	4
Lost:	4
General characteristics
Type:	Submarine
Displacement:	615 tonnes (605 long tons) surfaced 776 tonnes (764 long tons) submerged
Length:	64 m (210 ft)
Propulsion:	2 × diesel engines, 1,200 bhp (895 kW) 2 × electric motors, 1,000 shp (746 kW) 2 shafts
Speed:	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) surfaced 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph) submerged
Range:	3,500 mi (5,600 km) at 7.5 kn (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph)
Complement:	41
Armament:	7 × 550 mm (22 in) torpedo tubes 1 × 76 mm (3 in) deck gun 2 × 8 mm (0.31 in) machine guns

The Circé-class submarines were a sub-class of the 600 Series built for the French Navy prior to World War II. There were four vessels in the class, built to a Schneider-Laubeuf design. They were ordered in 1925 and completed by 1927.^[1]^[2]

The four boats of the Circé class saw action during the Second World War, from September 1939 until the French armistice in June 1940.

General characteristics

The Circé class had a displacement of 615 tons surfaced and 776 tons submerged. They had an endurance of 3,500 miles at 7.5 knots, with a maximum surface speed of 14 knots, and a submerged speed of 7.5 knots. Their armament was seven torpedo tubes (3 forward, 2 midships, and 2 aft) with an outfit of 13 torpedoes. As with all French submarines of this period, the midships torpedo tubes were fitted externally in trainable mounts. They had a single 3 inch/76mm and two 8mm machine guns, and were manned by crews of 41 men.

Ships

Circé was at Bizerta in June 1940. She was seized in 1942 and became the Italian FR117. She was scuttled in 1943.
Calypso was at Bizerta in June 1940. She was seized in 1942, but wrecked by Allied bombing in 1943.
Thétis was at Toulon in June 1940. She was scuttled there in November 1942.
Doris was sunk in the North Sea in May 1940 by the German submarine U-9.

Notes

↑ Bagnasco p.44
↑ Conway p.273

References

Bagnasco, E :Submarines of World War Two (1977) ISBN 0-85368-331-X
Conway : Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946 (1980) ISBN 0831703032

Circé-class submarines

Calypso Circé Doris Thétis

Preceded by: Ariane class Followed by: Redoutable class

French naval ship classes of World War II

Aircraft carriers	Béarn^S Joffre^X

Battleships	Courbet Bretagne Dunkerque Richelieu Alsace^X

Heavy cruisers	Duquesne Suffren Algérie^S

Light cruisers	Duguay-Trouin Jeanne d'Arc^S Émile Bertin^S La Galissonnière De Grasse^S

Large destroyers	Chacal Guépard Aigle Vauquelin Le Fantasque Mogador

Destroyers	Bourrasque L'Adroit Le Hardi La Melpomène

Submarines	Sirène Ariane Circé Argonaute Orion Diane Saphir Requin Redoutable Surcouf^S Minerve Aurore

Other	Bougainville (aviso) Commandant Teste^S (seaplane tender) Pluton^S (minelaying cruiser)

S Single ship of class X Cancelled

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Circé-class submarine

General characteristics

Ships

See also

Notes

References