Aigrette class
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The Aigrette class was a submarine - class of the French Navy . Diesel engines were used for the first time in the history of submarine construction in the Aigrette class of submarines . The two boats of the class were decommissioned after the end of the First World War .
Details
The submarines of the Aigrette class had a drive combination of lead-acid battery-powered electric motors for diving and diesel engines for cruising over water and for charging the batteries. Four 45.0 cm torpedoes served as armament . Instead of torpedo tubes , drainage frames attached to the outside of the fuselage were used. This construction, which can be swiveled for aiming, is also known as the “Drzewiecki drop collar” after its Russian inventor.
Until then, French submarines used either purely electrical drives or steam engines for surface travel. The introduction of the diesel engine was the last major French innovation in submarine construction. The submarines of other navies of this time mainly used the gasoline engine, which has been known for over 30 years .
The main advantage of the diesel engine developed in 1892, in addition to its economic efficiency, was the fire safety of the diesel oil . Petrol, on the other hand, is highly flammable and tends to form toxic fumes even at low temperatures, which is why this fuel is unsuitable for submarines. Petroleum was also partly used. This fuel is less flammable and its behavior is somewhere between gasoline and diesel oil. However, petroleum also forms explosive gas mixtures with the air, which makes this fuel very dangerous in a poorly ventilated submarine. Furthermore, petroleum engines generate a very clearly visible exhaust gas cloud.
Compared to the steam engine, the advantage of marine diesel engines was that they no longer needed a large chimney and that the diesel engine can be switched off quickly and easily. This allowed diesel-powered submarines to submerge much faster than z. B. the steam powered submarines of the Sirène class .
In addition, diesel engines were considerably more low-maintenance and more reliable than any other internal combustion engine used up to that point.
The advantages of modern diesel propulsion were later recognized by other navies. The British Royal Navy introduced the new engine in 1908 with the D-Class . In 1909 the Imperial Russian Navy followed with the Minoga and the United States Navy with the G-Class. Although the diesel engine was developed in Germany, the German Imperial Navy was the last major naval force to introduce this engine on submarines. The first German submarine with diesel propulsion was the U 19 , which entered service in 1913 .
To this day (2007) almost all submarines use diesel engines. Even nuclear submarines or the most modern submarines that are independent of the outside air have diesel engines at least as a reserve unit.
Boats of the class
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Aigrette (French: heron )
- Case number: Q 38
- Commissioning: 1904
- Location: deleted in November 1909
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Cigogne (French: stork )
- Case number: Q 39
- Commissioning: 1904
- Location: deleted in November 1919
See also
literature
- Anthony Preston: The history of the submarines , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen, German edition 1998, ISBN 3-86070-697-7