L'Aurore class

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L'Aurore class
Marine national française Navy
Model of the L'Africaine
General data
Ship type : Submarine
Navies :
Builders :
Units:
  • planned: 15
  • completed: 7
Boats of the class
completed: L'Africaine , L'Andromède , L'Artémis , L'Astrée , L'Aurore , La Créole , La Favorite
Construction started: L'Andromaque , L'Antigone , L'Armide , La Bayadère , La Clorinde
only planned: La Cornélie , La Gorgone , L'Hermione
Technical specifications
Crew: 44 men
Displacement :
  • over water: 893  ts
  • under water: 1170 ts
Length : 73.5 m
Width: 6.5 m
Draft : 4.2 m
Drive :
Speed :
  • surfaced: 15 kn (28 km / h )
  • submerged: 9 kn (17 km / h)
Fuel supply: 85 ts
Driving range:
  • over water:
    • 5600 NM (10371 km) at 10 kn
    • 2250 NM (4167 km) at 15 kn
  • under water at 5 kn:
    • 80 NM (148 km)
Diving depth : 100 m
Armament
Artillery : 1 × 100 mm deck gun
Air defense : 2 × 13.2 mm MG (2 × 1)
Torpedoes : 9 × 550 mm torpedo tubes

The L'Aurore class (also: La Créole class ) had an average U-boat - ship class of the French Navy . In the former French type classification there were boats in Class 2. The boats came apart from the captured by the Germans and as a training boat used La Favorite in World War II no longer used. Five boats were completed after the war and were in service with the French Navy until the 1960s.

Constructive features

The design was a considerably improved evolution of the 630 tonne type . The considerably larger boats could dive up to 100 m deep. Both the distance traveled and the engine power were significantly greater than with the older designs.

The most notable advances have been made in the field of armament. The deck gun received a higher caliber of 100 mm. The torpedo armament consisted of nine 550 mm tubes. The boats had six internal pipes. Four were mounted in the bow, two in the stern. The three external 400mm pipes that the Minerve class still used have been replaced with a larger external 550mm triplet set. The swiveling triplet was mounted behind the tower . The boats only carried torpedo tubes with a diameter of 550 mm, which was an important and forward-looking logistical simplification compared to the older French submarines armed with two different torpedo tube sizes.

History of construction and use

Construction of the type ship began in 1935 in Toulon . At the time of the armistice of June 1940 , 12 boats of the class were under construction, of which the L'Aurore was already in the test stadium. The half-finished La Creole was towed to Great Britain .

The three boats still in the dock , L'Africaine , La Favorite and L'Andromède , were taken over by the German Navy and renamed UF 1 , UF 2 and UF 3 on May 13, 1941 . Only La Favorite (UF 2) was completed by the Germans and put into service in 1942. The Navy used the submarine for training purposes in the Baltic Sea , where it was lost in 1944.

The construction of the remaining units was interrupted and the half-finished boats were largely destroyed by sabotage in order to prevent further construction by the enemy. The construction contracts for three other planned units were canceled.

When German troops marched into the previously unoccupied southern France ( Operation Anton ) on November 11, 1942 , the L'Aurore was self- scuttled in Toulon to prevent access by the Axis powers (see self-scuttling of the Vichy fleet ).

After the war ended, La Créole was returned to France by Great Britain. The two remaining German loot submarines L'Africaine (UF 1) and L'Andromède (UF 3) were also taken over by France. Then there were the two semi-finished constructions L'Artémis and L'Astrée , which had been in the dock for well over five years . The five submarines were built between 1945 and 1949 after modernizing the original design and put into service. The submarines are also known as the La Créole class after the first unit commissioned after World War II .

The French Navy used the five submarines until the early 1960s. The last L'Aurore-class submarine was sold for scrapping in 1967.

Boats of the class

  • L'Africaine
    • Case number: Q 196
    • Builder: Chantier Worms ( Rouen )
    • Commissioning: December 7, 1946
    • Note: taken over by Germany while in the shipyard and later renamed UF 1 , but not put into service. Completed after the war and in service with the French Navy until 1961, canceled in 1963.
  • L'Andromaque
    • Case number: Q 203
    • Builder: Chantier Worms (Rouen)
    • Comment: canceled in 1940, not completed
  • L'Andromède
    • Case number: Q 201
    • Builder: A & Chantier Dubigeon ( Nantes )
    • Note: taken over by Germany while in the shipyard and renamed UF 3 , but not put into service. Completed after 1945 and in service with the French Navy until the beginning of the 1960s, sold for scrapping in 1965.
  • L'Antigone
    • Case number: Q 202
    • Builder: Chantier Schneider et Cie ( Chalon-sur-Saône )
    • Comment: canceled in 1940, not completed
  • L'Armide
    • Case number: Q 207
    • Builder: Chantier Worms (Rouen)
    • Comment: canceled in 1940, not completed
  • L'Artémis
    • Case number: Q 206
    • Builder: Chantier Augustin Normand ( Le Havre )
    • Comment: Construction interrupted in 1940, further construction and commissioning after 1945, in French service until the 1960s, canceled in 1967.
  • L'Astrée
    • Case number: Q 200
    • Builder: A & Chantier Dubigeon (Nantes)
    • Comment: Construction interrupted in 1940, further construction and commissioning after 1945, in French service until the 1960s, sold for scrapping in 1965.
  • L'Aurore
    • Case number: Q 192
    • Builder: Arsenal de Toulon ( Toulon )
    • Keel laying: 1935
    • Launched: 1939
    • Comment: 1940 in the test stage, self-sunk on November 27, 1942 in Toulon.
  • La Bayadère
    • Case number: Q 194
    • Builder: Chantier Augustin Normand (Le Havre)
    • Comment: canceled in 1940, not completed
  • La Clorinde
    • Case number: Q 213
    • Builder: A & Chantier Dubigeon (Nantes)
    • Comment: canceled in 1940, not completed
  • La Cornélie
    • Case number: Q 214
    • Comment: only planned, construction contract withdrawn.
  • La Creole
    • Case number: Q 193
    • Builder: Chantier Augustin Normand (Le Havre)
    • Launched: June 8, 1940
    • Comment: Hauled to Great Britain in 1940 half-finished, completed and commissioned in France after the end of the war, sold for scrapping in 1961.
  • La Favorite
    • Case number: Q 195
    • Builder: Chantier Worms (Rouen)
    • Launched: September 1938
    • Commissioning: November 5, 1942 (Kriegsmarine)
    • Comment: In 1940, lying in the shipyard, taken over by the Kriegsmarine and renamed UF 2 , put into service by the Kriegsmarine and used as a training boat, sunk in July 1944
  • La Gorgone
    • Case number: Q 212
    • Builder: Chantier Augustin Normand (Le Havre)
    • Comment: only planned, construction contract withdrawn.
  • L'Hermione
    • Case number: Q 211
    • Builder: Chantier Augustin Normand (Le Havre)
    • Comment: only planned, construction contract withdrawn.

See also

literature

  • Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II , Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 5th edition 1996, ISBN 3-613-01252-9

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The French metric 550 mm standard can be converted to the internationally widespread 533 mm standard (21 inches ) with plug-in adapters.
  2. ↑ The French Navy distinguished three classes of submarines: 1st class boats were ocean-going boats. 2nd class boats were smaller coastal boats. 3rd class boats were mine layers .
  3. ↑ a b c d e The uboat.net divides L'Astrée the UF 3 to. Erminio Bagnasco are in submarines in World War 2 , the L'Andromède as the French name of the UF 3 to.