French submarine Prométhée (1930)
49°48′31.6″N 1°26′42.1″W / 49.808778°N 1.445028°W
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Prométhée |
| Namesake | Prometheus, a Titan god of fire in Greek mythology |
| Builder | Arsenal de Cherbourg |
| Laid down | 10 January 1928 |
| Launched | 23 October 1930 |
| Commissioned | Never commissioned |
| Fate | Sunk on 7 July 1932 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Redoutable-class submarine |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 92.30 m (302 ft 10 in) |
| Beam | 8.10 m (26 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed |
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| Range |
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| Test depth | 80 m (260 ft) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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Prométhée (Q153) was a Redoutable-class submarine of the French Navy, launched in 1930 at Cherbourg. On 7 July 1932, while sailing on the surface during sea trials, she suddenly sank off Cape Lévi, Manche. 62 of her 69 crew were lost with her, causing an outpouring of grief in France. The wreck was located the following day, but attempts to rescue any survivors and refloat the vessel were in vain. Survivors' statements indicated that the sinking was likely due to a sudden opening of the diving purges.
Characteristics and launching
Prométhée was one of 31 Redoutable-class submarines, also designated as the 1500-ton boats because of their displacement. The class entered service between 1931 and 1939.
92.3 m (302 ft 10 in) long, with a
Ordered in 1927, Prométhée was laid down on 10 January 1928 at the arsenal of Cherbourg. She was launched on 23 October 1930, with work preparing her for service continuing up until her sinking. An incident occurred during the launching, when Prométhée headed out of the respective axe with a forte gîte.[clarification needed][2]
Prométhée began trials on 1 December 1931. Her commander was the 38-year-old Lieutenant de vaisseau Amaury Couespel du Mesnil. Couespel du Mesnil entered the
Sinking
The submarine was nearing completion a year after her launch, and was to carry out a series of trials before being commissioned. Prométhée left Cherbourg on 7 July 1932 at about 0900 hours, sailing in a northern-east direction. This was the boat's fifth sea voyage. That day's trials consisted of exercising the electrical motors and testing the diesel motors used for surface propulsion.[3] The crew supplemented by sixteen workers from Cherbourg, five engineers and workers from Creusot and one other worker. Trials were conducted under the joint responsibility of the boat's commander and the marine engineer Ambroise Aveline.[4]
According to Prométhée's commander, the tests on the electrical motors to ensure propulsion while submerged, were completed a little before noon on 7 July. Prométhée was stationary 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) off
Seven sailors, including Lieutenant de vaisseau Couespel de Mesnil and Enseigne de vaisseau Bienvenue, survived for one hour in the water until they were rescued by fisherman Yves Nicol in his boat Yvette II.
Sixty-two men were lost with the submarine. The trial program for testing surface propulsion had not envisaged diving manoeuvres, and thus Prométhée was not prepared to carry out this type of manoeuvre. The first submergence trial had been scheduled to take place on 20 July. The boat had no reserve oxygen, and the bottles of compressed air which allowing the emptying of the ballast tanks for surfacing were empty. As news of the loss reached shore it became clear to the military and civilian authorities at Cherbourg that any rescue would have to be carried out within a couple of hours. An investigative committee determined that the crew did not survive more than a couple of minutes following the sinking, after the submarine was completely flooded.
Rescue and salvage attempts
News of the sinking arrived at Cherbourg with the return of Yves II in the middle of the afternoon. Several ships immediately made their way to the wreck site, aided by navy
On 8 July the aviso Ailette spotted Prométhée's telephonic buoy. It was impossible to establish whether it had been triggered automatically or deployed by the crew. Several attempts were made to use it to contact the crew. Two series of telephone calls were made via the buoy on 8 July and 9 July, but not response was received. The submarines Aurore, Eurydice and the Polish torpedo boat ORP Burza made underwater submarine signal recognitions in an attempt to detect any activity in the submarine.
The first dives on the wreck, lying 75 metres (246 ft) under water, began on 9 July towards 1600. Diving teams from Fidèle and Artiglio struck the hull with hammers in an attempt to contact survivors, but received no response. Forty hours after the wreck it was concluded that no oxygen would have been left in the wrecked submarine, and consequently there could not be any survivors.
International experts were consulted - notably Mario Raffaeli, technical director of the Italian society of maritime rescue recuperation, and
Causes of the sinking
In the evening of 8 July Vice-admiral Le Dô, maritime prefect of Cherbourg, established an investigative commission to discover the causes of the sudden sinking. Unable to examine the wreck, the commission was unable to use physical evidence, and had to rely on interviews with the survivors, including the commander of Prométhée, Lieutenant de vaisseau Couespel du Mesnil, and conducting similar trial simulations on Prométhée's sister ship Archimède.
Engineers studied how the Archimède submerged in as orderly and quick a manner as possible, to compare with what had happened to Prométhée. in 1930. However no official instructions had been issued to commanders of French submarines. Following the loss of Prométhée, all related section valves were modified on French submarines.
Deep sea navy divers examined the hatches around the bridge and observed that all of those they could see were closed. It was not possible to inspect all the hatches, as the steep angle at which Prométhée had sunk at suggested that one hatch could have been left open, allowing water to enter the submarine, and sink her.
Lieutenant de vaisseau Amaury Couespel du Mesnil was summoned before the war council on 3 November 1932, in order to answer for the loss of his boat. He was unanimously acquitted the following day. His career stalled however, and he ended up leaving the naval service a couple of years after the wreck. Enseigne Bienvenue was killed on 23 September 1940, during the Battle of Dakar.
Aftermath
The loss of Prométhée produced an outpouring of emotion across France and Europe. The Bastille Day events of 14 July were cancelled in numerous cities, including Cherbourg. A ceremony of national mourning was held on 30 July at Cherbourg and at the wreck site, in the presence of the Council president Édouard Herriot and Naval minister Georges Leygues.
Donations from across France funded the erection of a monument in the form of a cross at the point on shore closest to the wreck site, commemorating those lost. A street in
Citations
- ^ (Huan 2004, p. 52)
- ^ (Picard 2006, p. 24)
- ^ (McCartney 2002, p. 119)
- ^ (Picard 2006, p. 25)
- ^ a b (McCartney 2002, p. 120)
- ^ (Picard 2006, p. 18)
- ^ (Picard 2006, pp. 24–25)
- ^ (Huan 2004, p. 35)
References
- Huan, Claude (2004). Les Sous-marins français 1918-1945 (in French). Rennes, France: Marines Éditions. ISBN 978-2915379075.
- Le Masson, Henri (1981). Les Sous-marins français des origines (1863) à nos jours (in French). Brest, France: Éditions de la Cité. ISBN 978-2851860200.
- McCartney, Innes (2002). Lost patrols : submarine wrecks of the English Channel. Penzance: Periscope. ISBN 978-1-90438-104-4.
- Picard, Claude (2006). Les Sous-marins de 1 500 tonnes (in French). Rennes, France: Marines Editions. ISBN 978-2-915-37955-6.
External links
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1932 | |
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