French submarine Le Glorieux

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For other ships with the same name, see French ship Le Glorieux.
Le Glorieux
auxiliary cruiser Quercy
on 20 June 1942.
History
France
NameLe Glorieux
NamesakeGlorious, having glory, i.e., high renown, praise, and honor obtained through notable achievements and based in extensive common consent
OperatorFrench Navy
Builder
Arsenal de Cherbourg, Cherbourg
, France
Laid down10 February 1930
Launched29 November 1932
Commissioned1 June 1934
Decommissioned27 October 1952
Honors and
awards		 Resistance Medal
General characteristics
Class and typeRedoutable-class submarine
Displacement
  • 1,572 tonnes (1,547 long tons) (surfaced)
  • 2,092 tonnes (2,059 long tons) (submerged)
Length92.3 m (302 ft 10 in)
Beam8.1 m (26 ft 7 in)[1]
Draft4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) (surfaced)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 17.5 kn (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) (surfaced)
  • 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) (submerged)
Range
  • 14,000 nmi (26,000 km; 16,000 mi) at 7 kn (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) (surfaced)
  • 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) (surfaced)
  • 4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph) (surfaced)
  • 90 nmi (170 km; 100 mi) at 7 kn (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) (submerged)
Test depth80 m (262 ft)
Complement
  • 5
    officers
    (6 in operations)
  • 66 men
Armament
  • 11 torpedo tubes
  • 1 × 100 mm (3.9 in) gun
  • 1 × 13.2 mm (0.5 in) machine gun

Le Glorieux (Glorious) was a French Navy Redoutable-class submarine of the M6 series commissioned in 1934. She participated in World War II, first on the side of the Allies from 1939 to June 1940, then in the navy of Vichy France until November 1942. She then returned to the Allied side, operating as part of the Free French Naval Forces. Along with Archimède, Argo, Casabianca, and Le Centaure, she was one of only five out of the 31 Redoutable-class submarines to survive the war. She remained in French Navy service after World War II, and was decommissioned in 1952.

Characteristics

Profile of Casabianca, sister ship of Le Glorieux.

Le Glorieux was part of a fairly homogeneous series of 31 deep-sea patrol submarines also called "1,500-tonners" because of their displacement. All entered service between 1931 and 1939.

The Redoutable-class submarines were 92.3 metres (302 ft 10 in) long and 8.1 metres (26 ft 7 in) in

draft of 4.4 metres (14 ft 5 in). They could dive to a depth of 80 metres (262 ft). They displaced 1,572 tonnes (1,547 long tons) on the surface and 2,082 tonnes (2,049 long tons) underwater. Propelled on the surface by two diesel engines producing a combined 6,000 horsepower (4,474 kW), they had a maximum speed of 18.6 knots (34.4 km/h; 21.4 mph). When submerged, their two electric motors
produced a combined 2,250 horsepower (1,678 kW) and allowed them to reach 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Also called "deep-cruising submarines", their range on the surface was 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Underwater, they could travel 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph).

Le Glorieux,

radio direction finder.[2][3]

Construction and commissioning

Arsenal de Cherbourg in Cherbourg, France, on 10 February 1930[4] with the hull number Q168, Le Glorieux was launched on 29 November 1932.[4] She was commissioned on 1 June 1934.[4]

Service history

1934–1939

As on all French submarines, Le Glorieux′s folding radio

masts was removed in 1937 and replaced with a hoisting periscopic antenna.[3]

World War II

French Navy

At the start of

merchant fleet — which the Allies suspected of serving as supply ships for German U-boats – had taken refuge when the war broke out.[6] She conducted two patrols, and the only significant incident occurred when the British cargo ship Egba refused to stop for inspection even after Le Glorieux fired warning shots.[3]

On 7 February 1940, the 1st Submarine Division was assigned to the base at

antisubmarine warfare exercises, which took place northwest of Freetown on 1 March 1940.[4]

On 11 April 1940, Le Glorieux, Le Conquérant, and Le Tonnant took part in exercises off Dakar with the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Decoy.[4] In April 1940, the 1st Submarine Division was transferred to Bizerte in Tunisia, but Le Glorieux and Le Héros remained at Dakar.

German ground forces advanced into France on 10 May 1940, beginning the

with Italy on 24 June, both of which went into effect on 25 June 1940. Le Glorieux and Le Héros were at Dakar that day.[3]

Vichy France

After France's surrender, Le Glorieux served in the naval forces of

Latécoère 302 flying boat to retaliate by attacking the British heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire, which was patrolling south of Dakar.[3] The flying boat found Dorsetshire and guided the submarines to her,[8] but the submarines could get no closer to her than 6,000 metres (6,600 yd).[3] They received orders at 16:00 to return to Dakar.[3] During their return voyage, a seaplane from Dorsetshre attacked them, narrowly missing Le Glorieux with two bombs.[3]

On 7 July 1940, a British naval force arrived off Dakar and, as a part of

drydock at Dakar on 9 July for repairs.[3]

By 8 August 1940, Le Glorieux and Le Héros were at

hull cleaning.[3]

In October 1941, the British boarded and captured a

Fort-Dauphin on the southern coast of Madagascar on 23 November 1941[3] and proceeded to Diego-Suarez, Madagascar, which they reached in poor condition on 27 November 1941 after a journey of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km; 8,100 mi).[3]

At the end of December 1941, Le Glorieux escorted an

Djibouti in French Somaliland, which the Allies were blockading. She and her sister ship Vengeur sortied from Djibouti on 31 December 1941 and on 6, 13, and 16 January 1942 to protect barge convoys making the passage between Djibouti and Obock, French Somaliland.[3][14] From 16 to 20 January 1942, Vengeur, Le Glorieux, and the aviso D'Iberville conducted a patrol in the Gulf of Aden,[3][14] after which Vengeur and D'Iberville parted company with Le Glorieux and Le Glorieux remained on patrol alone until 23 December 1941,[3] when she returned to Djibouti for a stay that lasted until 19 February 1942.[3]

Le Glorieux departed Djibouti on 19 February 1942 in company with the

Majunga, a port on the west coast of Madagascar 350 miles (560 km) southwest of Diego-Suarez, where she arrived on 27 April to use her diesel engines to generate electricity for a cement plant so it could resume operations after suffering mechanical damage.[3][15]

Fearing a Japanese attack on Madagascar, which would compromise India's security and supplies, the British invaded Madagascar, beginning with amphibious landings near Diego-Suarez at dawn on 5 May 1942.[3][16] Le Glorieux immediately embarked crew members who were ashore and got underway from Majunga at 10:35 for a patrol area off Courrier Bay on the northwest coast of Madagascar near Cap d'Ambre, Madagascar's northern tip.[3] At 10:00 on 6 May 1942, she closed to within 10,000 to 12,000 metres (10,900 to 13,100 yd) of the British aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable, but was unable to reach an attack position.[3] A British destroyer passed Le Glorieux at 15:38 but did not attempt a depth-charge attack.[3] On 7 May 1942, with the British having seized Diego-Suarez, Le Glorieux received orders to withdraw and rendezvous with D'Iberville at Androka on the southwestern coast of Madagascar.[3]

Le Glorieux began refueling at Androka on 17 May 1942. She completing loading 160 tonnes (160 long tons; 180 short tons) of diesel fuel on 21 May 1942, and departed Androka that day in company with D'Iberville to head for Dakar, which they reached on 16 June 1942.[3] Le Glorieux then continued on to Toulon, where she arrived on either 12 July[3] or 1 August 1942,[3][17] according to different sources.[3] In accordance with the terms of the 1940 armistice, she was placed under guard at Toulon[3][18] and maintained in a disarmed and unfueled status. On 1 November 1942, she was part of the 1st Submarine Group along with her sister ships Achéron, L'Espoir, and Vengeur.[3]

Allied forces landed in French North Africa in Operation Torch on 8 November 1942, and on 9 November the Armistice Commission authorized Le Glorieux and several other French submarines – her sister ships Casabianca and Redoutable as well as the submarines Diamant, Iris, Naïade, Thétis, and Vénus and, according to one source, Le Glorieux′s sister ships Henri Poincaré and Pascal as well – to rearm.[3] Germany and Italy occupied the Free Zone (French: Zone libre) of Vichy France on 27 November 1942, and German forces entered the naval base at Toulon that day, prompting the scuttling of the French fleet there. Among the Redoutable-class submarines at Toulon, only Le Glorieux and Casabianca had embarked new batteries and provisions and fully refueled when the Germans arrived. At the sound of the first gunshots, they and Iris, Vénus, and the submarine Marsouin cast off from Le Mourillon between 05:00 and 05:15 and made a run for the open sea under fire by German forces.[3][19]

The submarines spent the rest of the day submerged south of Toulon, then surfaced after dark to decide on their next moves, some opting to head for

High Commissioner of France in Africa, Admiral François Darlan, to proceed to Algiers, Le Glorieux′s commanding officer decided to put back to sea after only a few hours in port.[3] Le Glorieux got back underway at 11:45 on 29 November 1942 and headed for Oran, where she arrived at 08:00 on 30 November 1942.[3][20]

Free French Naval Forces

After brief hostilities between Allied and Vichy French forces in French North Africa during the Torch landings, the surviving French fleet based in North Africa joined the

Philadelphia Navy Yard at League Island. The lack of a detailed plan of the Redoutable class and their parts hampered the shipyard′s work,[22] and American engineers expressed frustration at the lack of standardization among the four Redoutable-class submarines at Philadelphia – for example, two had Schneider diesel engines and two had Sulzer diesels.[23] However, they also noted that the Redoutable-class remained quite modern despite their 20-year-old design.[24]

At Philadelphia, Le Glorieux′s diesel engines underwent a full overhaul, her

anti-aircraft gun
.

After the completion of the work. Le Glorieux returned to North Africa at the end of May 1944. On 27 July 1944, Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic Charles de Gaulle ordered Le Glorieux and her sister ship Archimède to prepare for a transfer to the Pacific Ocean to participate in the war with Japan, with a target date of 15 November 1944 for their departure,[3][26] but Vice admiral André Lemonnier argued successfully that the two submarines were too old for such remote service, and the plan for them to operate in East Asian waters was dropped.[3]

The Allied invasion of

Mediterranean to an end before Le Glorieux could see further combat. In December 1944, she joined Archimède and the submarine La Sultane in generating electric power at Toulon while their crews were on leave.[3] She also operated as a submerged target for antisubmarine warfare training at sound schools. She was at Oran when the surrender of Japan
on 2 September 1945 brought World War II to an end.

Post-World War II

Le Glorieux and Archimède began a major refit at Cherbourg in January 1946.[28] They emerged from the shipyard in November 1946 with a test depth of 120 metres (394 ft), an increase of 40 metres (131 ft) over their original design, thanks to modifications made both at Philadelphia in 1943–1944 and at Cherbourg in 1946.[29] Le Glorieux was awarded the Resistance Medal on 29 November 1946.[30]

After completing post-refit sea trials at the beginning of 1947, Le Glorieux and Archimède were based at

U-2518, a German Type XXI submarine transferred to the French Navy after World War II to allow France to assess the Type XXI's revolutionary capabilities.[31]

From 1947 to 1949, Le Glorieux and Archimède carried out extensive training, first at Brest and then at Toulon. In 1949, Le Glorieux was used in filming the 1951 movie Casabianca — released in the United States in 1952 with the title

decommissioned on 27 October 1952.[3]

Honors and awards

References

Citations

  1. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "FR Ajax of the French Navy – French Submarine of the Redoutable class – Allied Warships of WWII". uboat.net. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  2. ^ Huan, p. 44.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk u-boote.fr Le Glorieux (in French) Accessed 23 August 2022
  4. ^ a b c d e f Allied Warships: FR Le Glorieux, uboat.net Accessed 18 August 2022
  5. ^ Huan, p. 49.
  6. ^ Picard, p. 35.
  7. ^ Huan, p. 64.
  8. ^ a b c Sous-Marins Français Disparus & Accidents: Sous-Marin Le Héros (in French) Accessed 1 September 2022
  9. ^ a b c u-boote.fr LE HÉROS (in French) Accessed 1 September 2022
  10. ^ Huan, p. 89.
  11. ^ Huan, p. 117.
  12. ^ Huan, p. 117.
  13. ^ Huan, p. 119.
  14. ^ a b Huan, p. 128.
  15. ^ a b Huan, p. 129.
  16. ^ Huan, pp. 130–131.
  17. ^ Huan, p. 131.
  18. ^ Huan, p. 123.
  19. ^ Picard, p. 76.
  20. ^ Picard, pp. 77–79.
  21. ^ Huan, p. 163.
  22. ^ a b Aboulker, p. 53.
  23. ^ Picard, p. 85.
  24. ^ Aboulker, pp. 54–55
  25. ^ Aboulker, pp. 55–56.
  26. ^ Huan, p. 168.
  27. ^ Huan, p. 172.
  28. ^ Aboulker, pp. 84–85.
  29. ^ Aboulker, p. 87.
  30. ^ Huan, p. 236.
  31. ^ Aboulker, pp. 87–91.
  32. ^ Huan and Moulin, p. 38.

Bibliography

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