French submarine Gymnote (S655)
History | |
---|---|
France | |
Name | Gymnote |
Namesake | Gymnotus |
Ordered | 1961 |
Builder | Arsenal de Cherbourg |
Laid down | 17 March 1963 |
Launched | 17 March 1964 |
Commissioned | 17 October 1966 |
Out of service | 1986 |
Identification | Q244, Q251, S655 |
Fate | Scrapped |
General characteristics | |
Type | Submarine |
Displacement |
|
Length | 84.0 m (275.6 ft) |
Beam | 10.6 m (35 ft) |
Draught | 7.6 m (25 ft) |
Propulsion | 2 shaft diesel electric |
Speed |
|
Complement | 78 men |
Armament | 4 launch tubes for SLBM |
Gymnote (S655) was an experimental
diesel electric engines. She is named in honour of Gymnote
, the world's first all-electric submarine built in France in the late 19th century.
The French planned a nuclear propelled submarine in the late 1950s and laid down a hull (no Q244). Because France had not developed uranium enrichment facilities at the time, the planned power plant was to be a
heavy water reactor, which could utilize natural uranium. But French engineers were unable to produce a reactor small enough to fit into the submarine, which led to the project being canceled in 1959.[1]
In the early 1960s the French government decided to develop an independent nuclear deterrent based on SLBM's. Hull Q244 was redesigned as a trials submarine with diesel-electric propulsion and four missile tubes in an extended casing. Re-designated Q251 and christened Gymnote, she was commissioned in 1966 and fired the first
M-4 missile
. In the 1980s, as part of a general re-numbering of the French submarine fleet, Gymnote was re-designated S655.
Gymnote was decommissioned in 1986.
See also
References
Citations
- ^ [1] Archived October 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
Sources
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. OCLC 34267261.