French submarine Archimède (1909)
A postcard of Archimède in Brest, 1910
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Class overview | |
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Name | Archimède |
Operators | French Navy |
Preceded by | Brumaire class |
Succeeded by | Mariotte |
Built | 1908–1910 |
In service | 1911–1919 |
In commission | 1910–1919 |
Completed | 1 |
Scrapped | 1 |
History | |
France | |
Name | Archimède |
Namesake | Archimedes |
Builder | Arsenal de Cherbourg |
Laid down | 2 January 1908 |
Launched | 4 August 1909 |
Commissioned | 22 September 1910 |
In service | September 1911 |
Stricken | 12 November 1919 |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 4 October 1921 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Type | Submarine |
Displacement | |
Length | 60.9 m (199 ft 10 in) ( o/a ) |
Beam | 5.63 m (18 ft 6 in) (deep) |
Draft | 4.51 m (14 ft 10 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range |
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Complement | 3 officers and 25 crewmen |
Armament |
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Archimède was one of four experimental submarines ordered for the French Navy in 1906. Each boat was built to a different design and Archimède was optimized to maximize speed and range.
Background and description
The Board of Construction (Conseil des travaux) intended to order 20 submarines for the 1906 naval program, including two large long-range experimental boats. The board was preempted by Navy Minister (Ministre de la Marine) Gaston Thomson who opened a competition for submarines that were faster on the surface and with longer range than the preceding Pluviôse class on 6 February 1906. Surfaced requirements were for a maximum speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph), a range of 1,250 nautical miles (2,320 km; 1,440 mi) without using an auxiliary fuel tank, and a range of 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) with the extra fuel. Submerged, the boats had to have a maximum speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) and a range of 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph). Four designs were submitted, including one by naval constructor Julien Eugène Hutter using an Pluviôse-type hull enlarged and optimized to meet the speed and range requirements, all of which were authorized by the board, along with 16 Brumaire-class submarines.[1]
Archimède displaced 580 metric tons (570 long tons) surfaced and 809 metric tons (796 long tons) submerged, almost half again more than the Pluviôse-class boats. She had an overall length of 60.9 meters (199 ft 10 in), a beam of 5.63 meters (18 ft 6 in), and a maximum draft of 4.12 meters (13 ft 6 in).[2] The boat had a depth of 8.9 meters (29 ft 2 in) from the bottom of her keel to the top of the conning tower and a metacentric height of 0.211 m (8 in) when surfaced. Like most French submarines of this period, Archimède was fitted with a prominent "walking deck" above her single hull to facilitate operations on the surface.[3]
The submarine's hull was divided into nine
On the surface, the boat was powered by a pair of three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one three-bladed 1.9-meter (6 ft 3 in)
Internally, Archimède was armed with a single 45 cm (17.7 in)
Construction, trials and subsequent history
Archimède was ordered on 31 December 1906 as part of the 1906 competition from the
When the First World War began in August 1914, Archimède was assigned to the 3rd Submarine Flotilla of the 2nd Light Squadron at Cherbourg
See also
Citations
Bibliography
- Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
- Freivogel, Zvonimir (2019). The Great War in the Adriatic Sea 1914–1918. Zagreb: Despot Infinitus. ISBN 978-953-8218-40-8.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Garier, Gérard (2002). A l'épreuve de la Grande Guerre [Tested by the Great War]. L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France (in French). Vol. 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) [From Émeraude (1905–1906) to Charles Brun (1908–1933)]. L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France (in French). Vol. 2. Bourg-en-Bresse, France: Marines édition. ISBN 2-909675-34-3.
- Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome I 1914–1915 [The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book I 1914–1915]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 23. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN 978-2-37468-000-2.
- Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome II 1916–1918 [The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book II 1916–1918]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 27. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN 978-2-37468-001-9.
- Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
- Stanglini, Ruggero & Cosentino, Michele (2022). The French Fleet: Ships, Strategy and Operations, 1870-1918. Barnsley, uk. ISBN 978-1-5267-0131-2.)
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