Class overview
Name Aurore
Builders Le Havre , Nantes , Toulon , Chalon-sur-Saône , Rouen
Operators
Preceded by Minerve class
Succeeded by Narval class
In service 1939–1962
Planned 15
Completed 7
Cancelled 8
General characteristics
Type Submarine
Displacement
900 tonnes (890 long tons) surfaced
1,170 tonnes (1,150 long tons) submerged
Length 73.5 m (241 ft 2 in)
Beam 6.5 m (21 ft 4 in)
Draught 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
Propulsion
Diesel: 2,200 kW (3,000 shp )
1,000 kW (1,400 hp) electrical
Speed
15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced
9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) submerged
Range
5,600 nmi (10,400 km; 6,400 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
80 nmi (150 km; 92 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h) submerged
Test depth 100 m (330 ft)
Armament
1 × 100 mm (3.9 in) deck gun
2 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns
9 × 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes (4 bow internal, 3 external amidships, and 2 stern external)
The Aurore class was a class of fifteen coastal submarines designed for the French Navy . The prototype – Aurore – was authorised in 1934, the next four in 1937, a further four in 1938, two in 1938, and a final four subsequently. Some of the ships were captured by Nazi Germany after the Fall of France , most of them in an unfinished state; two were intended to be completed for the German Navy, Africaine becoming UF-1 and Favorite becoming UF-2 , but only the first was completed during the World War II , the second reverting to French control while still uncompleted.
Five of the submarines , Andromède , Astrée , Africaine , Artémis and Créole , were completed after the war, were commissioned in the French Navy and served into the 1960s. Andromède , Artémis and Créole were fitted with GUPPY sails and submarine snorkels .
Ships
Builder: Toulon
Ordered: 1934
Laid down: December 1935
Launched: 26 July 1939
Fate: Scuttled during the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon on 27 November 1942
Builder: Le Havre
Ordered: 1937
Laid down: December 1937
Launched: 8 June 1940
Fate: Broken up in 1961
Builder: Le Havre
Ordered: 1937
Laid down: December 1937
Launched: -
Fate: Broken up in June 1940 still on keel, never finished
Builder: Rouen
Ordered: 1937
Laid down: December 1937
Launched: September 1938
Fate: Taken by the German, becoming UF-2 ; scuttled in 1945 at Gotenhafen
Builder: Rouen
Ordered: 1937
Laid down: December 1937
Launched:7 December 1946
Fate: Broken up in 1963
Builder: Nantes
Ordered: 1938
Laid down: November 1938
Launched: 3 May 1946
Fate: Broken up in 1965
Builder: Nantes
Ordered: 1938
Laid down: November 1938
Launched: 17 November 1949
Fate: Broken up in 1965
Builder: Chalon-sur-Saône
Ordered: 1938
Laid down: November 1938
Launched: -
Fate: Broken up in 1940 still on keel, never finished
Builder: Rouen
Ordered: 1938
Laid down: November 1938
Launched: -
Fate: Broken up in 1940 still on keel, never finished
Builder: Le Havre
Ordered: 1939
Laid down: May 1939
Launched: 28 June 1942
Fate: Broken up in 1967
Builder: Rouen
Ordered: 1938
Laid down: May 1939
Launched: -
Fate: Broken up in 1940 still on keel, never finished
Builder: Le Havre
Ordered: 1939
Launched:
Fate: Broken up on keel while only 8% built
Builder: Le Havre
Ordered:
Launched:
Fate: Broken up on keel while only 5% built
Builder: Nantes
Ordered:
Launched:
Fate: Broken up in 1940 still on keel, never finished
Builder:
Ordered:
Launched:
Fate: Keel never laid
See also
References
Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946 . Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7 .
External links