French submarine Protée (Q155)

History
Name:	Protée
Fate:	sunk on 18 December 1943
General characteristics
Class & type:	Redoutable class submarine
Displacement:	1500 tonnes (surfaced) 2000 tonnes (submerged)
Length:	92.30 m (302.8 ft)
Propulsion:	2 diesels, of 4,300 hp 2 electric engines of 1,200 hp
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) (surfaced) 10 knots (submerged)
Range:	14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km) at 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph), 10,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) 4,000 nautical miles (7,000 km) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) 90 nautical miles (170 km) at 7 knots (submerged)
Test depth:	80 metres
Complement:	5 officers (6 in operations) 79 men
Armament:	11 torpedo tubes 1 × 100 mm gun 1 × 13.2 mm machine gun

The Protée (Q.155) was a submarine of the French Navy.

Career

Protée served off Morocco in February 1940 before being sent off Turkey in May. She then sailed to Alexandria, where she was immobilised after Operation Catapult until 1943.

In July 1943, she joined the Free French Naval Forces and served under Captain Georges Millé, in patrolling off Provence and landing spies in Spain. On 23 November 1943, she torpedoed and sank a 2000-tonne German freighter.

She disappeared off Provence on 18 December 1943 with all hands, including three British liaison personnel.^[1] Her chief engineer, Louis Laubie, was honoured by having the submarine Laubie named after him.

Discovery of the wreck

The wreck was discovered on 6 April 1995 at 43°04′16″N 5°32′14″E / 43.071°N 5.5372°ECoordinates: 43°04′16″N 5°32′14″E / 43.071°N 5.5372°E by the COMEX Rémora 2000.^[2] Analyses of the damage indicates that she was probably lost after hitting a mine. The wreck was declared a war memorial by the Navy.

Sources and references

1. Dimanche 18 décembre 2005, cérémonie en hommage au Sous-Marin PROTEE
2. Pierre (2008-02-03). "Le Protée" (in French). Retrieved 2009-08-14.

• T. L. Mercier. "Q 155 / Le Protée 2" (in French). Sous-marins Français. Retrieved 2009-08-05.