With the exception of export submarines, the specified years only relate to the period of use in the French Navy. This circumstance must be taken into account in the case of captured submarines or submarines taken over from friendly nations.
Suffren class (6 units are planned to replace theRubisandAméthyste classfightersubmarines)
French submarines in service with other navies
Portugal operates the last active Daphné-class submarine . Six Agosta-class boats are still in active service in Spain (4) and Pakistan (2). Pakistan put three modernized Agosta newbuildings into service between 1999 and 2006, two of which were built in Pakistan. At least one of these boats has an air-independent MESMA drive . In the 1990s, the Scorpène class was developed together with Spain . The first boat of the conventionally powered submarine class intended for export to Chile , Malaysia and India was completed in 2005.
France was the first country to test, build, and deploy machine-operated submarines on a large scale. The Plongeur was the world's first machine-operated submarine, and the Gymnote one of the first electric ones. The Narval was the world's first functioning submarine with a hybrid drive consisting of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor . By 1904, France owned by far the largest and most modern submarine fleet in the world.
The French Navy very quickly lost its qualitative and quantitative leadership position to the US American Navy , the British Royal Navy and the German Imperial Navy until the beginning of the First World War , but remained one of the leading submarine navies in the world. Many other submarines were constructed in France. The most important French innovation was the introduction of the economical and safe diesel engine with the Aigrette class . During the First World War, the French submarines were mainly used in the Mediterranean against the Austrian Navy and ships of the Ottoman Empire . In 1916, the German submarine UB 26 was captured. Although France was one of the most modern and largest submarine nations in the world, after the end of the First World War, additional submarines that the German Empire had to deliver to France were taken over into the French navy and used until the 1930s .
France continuously developed and built more submarines. The modern French submarine designs have been exported to several countries such as Greece, Yugoslavia, Latvia and Poland. The most built French submarine classes of the 1920s and 1930s were the small boats of the 600/630 ton type and the larger units of the 1500 ton type . During the Second World War , both the Vichy French and the Free French navy used submarines. Most of the French submarines were self-sunk by French naval forces in 1940 as a result of the French defeat and in 1942 after the German invasion of southern France. In use, significantly more French submarines were lost to attacks by the Allies than to fighting with armed forces of the Axis powers .
After the end of the Second World War, in addition to pre-war buildings and leased British submarines, several booty boats of the German submarine classes VII, IX, XXI and XXIII were operated. The only remaining pre-war project was the L'Aurore class . Newly developed French designs soon followed, some of which were based on German designs. The most built model was the Daphné class with 25 units . 14 boats of the class were exported. Between 1955 and 1958 the construction of the first nuclear submarine was started with the Q 244 . The project was canceled. The conventional diesel-electric powered test submarine Gymnote (S 655) was the first French strategic missile submarine.
In 1971, the Le Redoutable (S 611), the first French nuclear submarine , was put into service. The first generation of French nuclear submarines of the Redoutable class and the later built L'Inflexible class were strategic missile submarines and were used by the Force de frappe in the Cold War for nuclear deterrence . In 1977, the Agosta class, the last non-nuclear powered French military submarine class to date, was introduced. The Agosta boats were also exported to Pakistan and Spain, where they are in active service to this day.
Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II. (Technology - Classes - Types. A Comprehensive Encyclopedia). 5th edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-613-01252-9 .
Anthony Preston: The history of the submarines , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen, German edition 1998, ISBN 3-86070-697-7
Chris Chant: Modern submarines technology-tactics-armament , Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 1st edition 2005, ISBN 3-7276-7150-5
Robert Hutchinson: KAMPF UNDER WASSER - Submarines from 1776 to today , Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 1st edition 2006, ISBN 3-613-02585-X
Werner Globke (ed.): Weyers Flottentaschenbuch / Warships of the World - Fleet Handbook , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn, 66th year 2005-2007, ISBN 3-7637-4517-3
↑ uboat.net assigns Ondine to the Ariane class . Erminio Bagnasco indicates the ondine as a Sirène class boat in submarines during World War II . Both sources confirm the loss of the Ondine in 1928 and that an Orion- class boat received the same name.
↑ uboat.net assigns nymph to the Sirène class . Erminio Bagnasco indicates the nymph as an Ariane class boat in submarines during World War II . Both sources confirm the scrapping of the nymph in 1938.
^ L'Africaine was taken over by the Kriegsmarine in 1940 and renamed UF 1 in 1941 , but not completed or put into service.
↑ a b L'Andromède was taken over by the Kriegsmarine in 1940 and renamed UF 3 in 1941 , but not completed or put into service. The uboat.net assigns L'Astrée to UF 3 . Erminio Bagnasco are in submarines in World War 2 , the L'Andromède as the French name of the UF 3 to.
↑ La Favorite was taken over by the Kriegsmarine in 1940 , renamed UF 2 in 1941 and put into service in 1942. The submarine was used as a training boat and sank in the Baltic Sea in 1944 .
