French submarine Sfax
 Sfax′s sister ship Ajax in 1930.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Sfax |
| Namesake | Sfax, a city in Tunisia |
| Operator | French Navy |
| Ordered | 1930 |
| Builder | Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Saint-Nazaire, France |
| Laid down | 28 July 1931 |
| Launched | 6 December 1934 |
| Commissioned | 7 September 1936 |
| Homeport | Brest, France |
| Fate | Sunk 19 December 1940 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | Redoutable-class submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | |
| Beam | 8.20 m (26 ft 11 in) |
| Draught | 4.70 m (15 ft 5 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range |
|
| Complement | 61 |
| Armament |
|
Sfax was a French Navy Redoutable-class submarine of the M6 series commissioned in 1936. She participated in World War II, first on the side of the Allies from 1939 to June 1940 and then in the navy of Vichy France until a German submarine mistook her for an Allied submarine and sank her in December 1940.
Characteristics
Sfax 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
Sfax,
Construction and commissioning
Service history
1936–1939
In 1937, all French submarines had their folding radio
By the beginning of 1939, Sfax was assigned to the 2nd Submarine Division based at Brest, France.[7] Her sister ships Achille, Casabianca, and Pasteur made up the rest of the division.[8] She underwent a refit at Brest from February to April 1939,[7] then patrolled in the Atlantic Ocean until later in 1939, when the 2nd Submarine Division was transferred to Toulon, France, for operations in the Mediterranean Sea.[7]
World War II
When
All four submarines of the 2nd Submarine Division subsequently were assigned to escort duty for Allied convoys in the Atlantic.[6][7][11] They departed Brest on 14 November 1939 and proceeded to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.[5] Despite encountering bad weather during their voyage, they arrived at Halifax at 07:30 on 25 November 1939.[5] The British Royal Navy submarines HMS Cachalot, HMS Narwhal, HMS Porpoise, and HMS Seal joined them there for escort duty on 26 November 1939.[5] On 2 December 1939, Convoy HX 11 — consisting of 11 British tankers, 33 British cargo ships, and a French cargo ship — departed Halifax bound for the United Kingdom with an escort consisting of Sfax, Casabianca, the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Revenge, and a number of Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy destroyers,[3] Sfax and Casabianca joining the escort on 4 December 1939.[5] On 17 December 1939, Sfax and Casabianca parted company with the convoy, which arrived safely in British waters on 18 December 1940,[3] and the two French submarines arrived at Brest the same day.[5] The 2nd Submarine Division continued convoy escort duty through the winter of 1939–1940.[7][11]
During the spring of 1940, Sfax and the other submarines of her division supported Allied forces fighting in the
German ground forces advanced into France on 10 May 1940, beginning the
Vichy France
After France's surrender, Sfax served in the naval forces of Vichy France, based at Casablanca.[7] In the aftermath of the British attack on Mers-el-Kébir — in which a Royal Navy squadron attacked the French naval squadron at the base at Mers El Kébir near Oran on the coast of Algeria on 3 July 1940 — Sfax, Casabianca, and their sister ship Poncelet maintained a constant patrol in the Atlantic Ocean 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) off Casablanca from 6 to 18 July 1940 to protect the incomplete battleship Jean Bart, which had fled to Casablanca before the armistice.[5][7][15] On 23 or 28 October 1940, according to different sources, Sfax joined Casabianca and their sister ships Bévéziers and Sidi Ferruch in forming a new 2nd Submarine Division based at Casablanca.[5][16]
At 12:00 on 17 December 1940, the 2,785-
Loss
Sfax′s and Rhône′s voyage southward along the African coast was uneventful until they reached a point between
With no reason to believe that the French vessels were under submarine attack, Rhône′s
At 20:00 on 19 December 1940, a Spanish fishing trawler found the motorboat, rescued Rhône's commanding officer and the nine volunteers from it, and took the motorboat in tow.[24] At 23:00, the trawler transferred the 10 survivors to the French cargo ship Fort Royal, which transmitted a signal reporting the events to the Vichy French naval command in Casablanca.[24] Although the signal failed to reach Casablanca, the French cargo ship Francois L-D received it and altered course to proceed to the scene of the attack.[24] Francois L-D took the 10 survivors aboard from Fort Royal and launched a motor whaleboat to conduct a fruitless search to the southeast for more survivors.[24] Francois L-D herself headed southwest, and at 07:45 on 20 December 1940 sighted one of Rhône′s whaleboats 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) from Rhône, rescuing six more men.[24] Rhône finally sank at 15:00 on 20 December 1940[24] at 28°03′N 012°54′W / 28.050°N 12.900°W.[17]
Francois L-D continued to search the area but found no more survivors, and she suspended her search at 18:30 on 20 December 1940 and headed for
Sixty-five of the 69 men aboard Sfax died in her sinking.[14][3][18] Eleven members of Rhône′s crew lost their lives.[17][14]
On 21 December 1940, U-37′s commanding officer,
Commemoration
Groix received a posthumous promotion to capitaine de corvette (corvette captain) "on exceptional grounds and for feats of war."[14] A street in Brest, his home town, is named for him.[14]
References
Citations
- ^ Gardiner & Chesneau 1980, pp. 273–274.
- ^ Huan, p. 44.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Allied Warships: FR Sfax, uboat.net Accessed 9 July 2022
- ^ Le Conte.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s u-boote.fr SFAX (in French) Accessed 14 August 2022
- ^ a b c d e f Sous-Marins Français Disparus & Accidents: Sous-Marin Sfax (in French) Accessed 14 August 2022
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Morgan & Taylor, p. 78.
- ^ Huan, p. 49.
- ^ u-boote.fr PASTEUR (in French) Accessed 4 September 2022
- ^ a b Huan, pp. 60–61.
- ^ a b Huan, p. 67.
- ^ ACHILLE (in French) Accessed 5 August 2022
- ^ Picard, p. 51.
- ^ a b c d e f Morgan & Taylor, p. 81.
- ^ Huan, pp. 88–89.
- ^ Huan, p. 96.
- ^ a b c d e Ships hit by U-boats: Rhône, French Fleet oiler, uboat.net Accessed 9 July 2022
- ^ a b c d e f g Ships hit by U-boats: Sfax (Q 182) French Submarine, uboat.net Accessed 9 July 2022
- ^ Morgan & Taylor, pp. 78–79.
- ^ Huan, p. 98.
- ^ a b c d e Morgan & Taylor, p. 79.
- ^ Huan, p. 98.
- ^ Morgan & Taylor, pp. 79–80.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Morgan & Taylor, p. 80.
- ^ Morgan & Taylor, pp. 80–81.
- ^ Morgan & Taylor, pp. 79, 80.
Bibliography
- Boulaire, Alain (2011). La Marine française: De la Royale de Richelieu aux missions d'aujourd'hui (in French). Quimper, France: éditions Palantines. p. 383. ISBN 978-2-35678-056-0.
- Fontenoy, Paul E. (2007). Submarines: An Illustrated History of Their Impact (Weapons and Warfare). Santa Barbara, California. ISBN 978-1-85367-623-9.]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)[verification needed - Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Huan, Claude (2004). Les Sous-marins français 1918–1945 (in French). Rennes: Marines Éditions. ISBN 9782915379075.
- Le Conte, Pierre (1936). Sous-marin "Sfax" (Saint-Nazaire) Date d'édition 1936 (in French). Saint-Nazaire: Ateliers et chantier de la Loire.
- Monaque, Rémi (2016). Une histoire de la marine de guerre française (in French). Paris: éditions Perrin. p. 526. ISBN 978-2-262-03715-4.
- Morgan, Daniel; Taylor, Bruce (2011). U-Boat Attack Logs: A Complete Record of Warship Sinkings From Original Sources 1939–1945. Barnsley, England: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-118-2.
- Picard, Claude (2006). Les Sous-marins de 1 500 tonnes (in French). Rennes: Marines Éditions. ISBN 2-915379-55-6.
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, Volume II, 1870–2006 (PDF) (in French). Millau, France: Rezotel-Maury. p. 591. ISBN 2-9525917-1-7. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
- Vergé-Franceschi, Michel (2002). Dictionnaire d'Histoire maritime (in French). Paris: ISBN 2-221-08751-8.