Narval class

Narval class

General data
Ship type :	Submarine
Navy :	French Navy
Builders :	Arsenal de Cherbourg ( Cherbourg ) AC Augustin Normand ( Le Havre ) AC de la Seine Maritime ( Rouen )
Units:	6th
Boats of the type
Dauphin, Espadon, Marsouin, Morse, Narval, Requin
Technical specifications
Crew:	63
Displacement :	over water: 1635 ts under water: 1910 ts
Length :	78.4 m
Width:	7.8 m
Draft :	5.2 m
Drive :	Diesel : 3281 kW Electric : 3729 kW
Speed :	surfaced: 16 kn (30 km / h ) submerged: 18 kn (33 km / h)
Driving range:	above water at 8 kn: 15000 NM (27780 km)
Armament
Torpedoes :	8 * 550 mm torpedo tubes (6 in the bow, 2 in the stern)

The Narval-class was a submarine class of the French Navy built in the 1950s . The design was developed by the German Type XXI - submarines affected. Because of their size and high fuel supplies, the boats were used in long-range ocean patrols. Therefore, in France, these boats were also classified as sous-marin d'escadre (fleet sub - boats ).

All six built submarines of this class were decommissioned by 1992.

history

The deep-sea submarines of the Narval class are, together with the coastal submarines of the Aréthuse class , the first new submarines in France after the end of the Second World War. Until then, the French Navy only had its own developments (e.g. L'Aurore-class ) from the pre-war period, some of which could only be built and put into service after the war, as well as left-over British designs ( S-class ) and former German submarines that had remained in French ports when France was liberated by the Allies ( Type VII and IX ) or were handed over from British booty stocks after the war (1946) ( Type XXI and XXIII ). The experience with the Type XXI boat U 2518 , which was under this name until 1951 and after a conversion until 1967 as Roland Morillot in the service of the Marine nationale, was a strong inspiration for the E-48 project, from which the Development of the Narval class emerged. This class can therefore be regarded as a consistent French further development of the German type XXI, whereby it surpassed its performance.

The majority of the class, with the exception of a few stays in the Mediterranean, served their entire service time with the second submarine squadron (French: 2nd Escadrille de sous-marins - 2nd ESM , later Escadrille de sous-marins de l'Atlantique - ESMA or ESMAT ) at the Keroman base in Lorient . Only Morse changed several times to the first submarine squadron in Toulon (French: 1ère Escadrille de sous-marins - 1ère ESM , later Escadrille de sous-marins de la Méditerranée - ESMM or ESMED ).

With the Narval class, the limits of the capabilities of the submarines of the time were tested in various ways. In 1958, the Dauphin and Requin broke the world record of 30 days underwater, which was held at that time by the American nuclear submarines USS Skate (SSN-578) and USS Seawolf (SSN-575) , with diving trips of 32 and 42 days. In preparation of the first French attempts to navigation under the Arctic ice in 1964 were Espadon and Marsoin to the 70th northern latitude posted. The actual navigation experiments were carried out a year later by the Dauphin and Narval , when they spent a week and a half near the 72nd parallel. These attempts must be seen against the background of the then current development of their own nuclear submarines for the Navy national ( Le Redoutable class ), which are suitable for operations under closed ice sheets due to their type of propulsion.

The Narval-class boats also served as test platforms for testing components for the French nuclear submarines. For example, in the last years of its service from 1980, the sonar system on Requin , which was intended for the M4 modernization of French nuclear submarines with ballistic missiles (French: Sous-Marins nucleaires lanceurs engins - SNLE), was tested. In a similar way, Dauphin underwent extensive modifications starting in 1986 in order to serve as a test vehicle for equipment and sensors that were to be used on the Triomphant-class nuclear submarines, which were also armed with ballistic missiles and which were currently in use at the time the development. For this purpose, in 1990 even the blade-shaped bow was rebuilt and given a round shape similar to the French nuclear submarines. When the Dauphin was finally decommissioned in 1992, it was the longest-serving and most heavily modified submarine in its class.

technology

Compared to the German type XXI , the Narval class had a range that was one third greater in battery operation (400 nm compared to 290 nm for the type XXI). In addition, it twice exceeded the test depth of the Type XXI. Further improvements were a completely new snorkel system, propellers optimized to minimize noise and, above all, newer positioning systems (active and passive SONAR , RADAR ).

The sectional construction introduced towards the end of the Second World War with the Type XXI in submarine construction was also used in the Narval class. These boats consisted of seven 10 m long sections welded together. Other similarities with the Type XXI were the two-shaft drive and the presence of a real tower above the control center, which contained the periscopes, instead of the simple manhole in the tower cladding that is otherwise common in modern submarines, as well as a battery of six bow torpedo tubes. In addition, the Narval class in its original configuration still had two stern torpedo tubes, which were omitted when all boats were later modernized. The torpedo tubes had the usual French standard caliber of 550 mm (Type XXI 533 mm). After the conversion, the boats still had 14 reserve torpedoes in the bow torpedo room, so that a total of 20 torpedoes could be carried with the six torpedoes in the bow torpedo tubes.

The battery was arranged completely below the crew quarters in the forward boat area between the center and the bow torpedo room. The galley and engine rooms were located aft of the center. The diesel drive initially consisted of two-stroke engines from Schneider , which, however, turned out to be unreliable and so loud that it was difficult to man the engine room at top speed.

From 1966 to 1970 all boats in the class were subjected to intensive modernization, during which the drive system was replaced by a diesel-electric system based on the SEMT-Pielstick 12PA4-185. The stern torpedo tubes were also removed and the electronics replaced. The clearest sign of the modernization measures was the change in the tower cladding from the original stepped shape with a low bridge and the narrow cladding of the extension devices protruding beyond it into a fuller, rounded shape with a significantly greater bridge height, more like the Daphné class .

Units and whereabouts

France - Marine national

The French Navy received six Narval-class units, which were built at different shipyards. The boats were then heavily modified in the late 1960s. All boats in the class have been decommissioned since 1992. With the exception of Espadon , which became the first museum submarine in France in 1985 and was thus preserved, all boats of the class were scrapped or sunk as target ships.

Identifier	Surname	Shipyard	Keel laying	Launch	Commissioning	unit	Decommissioning	Whereabouts
S 631	Narval (Q 231)	Arsenal de Cherbourg in Cherbourg	Late 1951	December 11, 1954	December 1, 1957	2nd ESM in Lorient	June 15, 1983	scrapped in Lorient on February 6, 1986
S 632	Marsouin (Q 232)	Arsenal de Cherbourg in Cherbourg	1954	May 21, 1955	October 1, 1957	2nd ESM in Lorient	November 8, 1982	Hulk Q 633, scrapped in Lorient on February 6, 1986
S 633	Dauphin (Q 233)	Arsenal de Cherbourg in Cherbourg	1953	17th September 1955	August 1, 1958	2nd ESM in Lorient	December 31, 1992	Hulk Q 694, sunk as a target ship off Toulon on December 17, 2003
S 634	Requin (Q 234)	Arsenal de Cherbourg in Cherbourg	June 1952	3rd December 1955	August 1, 1958	2nd ESM in Lorient	November 1, 1985	Hulk Q 656, sunk as a target ship off Toulon on May 31, 1996
S 637	Espadon (Q 237)	AC Augustin Normand in Le Havre	March 1957	September 15, 1958	April 1, 1960	2nd ESM in Lorient	September 11, 1985	Museum ship in Saint-Nazaire since June 26, 1987
S 638	Morse (Q 238)	AC de la Seine Maritime in Rouen	December 27, 1956	December 10, 1958	May 1, 1960	1ère ESM in Toulon (1960–1962) 2e ESM in Lorient (1962–1969) 1ère ESM in Toulon (1969–1972) 2e ESM in Lorient (1972–1986)	December 19, 1986	Hulk Q 672, scrapped in Naples on February 19, 1991

photos

The two Narval-class submarines Espadon (left) and Dauphin (right) next to the tender Rhone A622 in front of the submarine bunker in La Pallice . The different tower shapes before and after the modernization are clearly visible.

Close-up of the espadon (left) with the new and Dauphin (right) with the old tower cladding in La Pallice
Tower of the Espadon submarine museum in the wet bunker in Saint-Nazaire .
Foredeck of the espadon with a view aft of the tower.
Detailed view of the extendable and retractable rigid bow thrusters and the active sonar on the nose tip of the espadon .
Bow torpedo room with entry port inside the espadon . The top four of the six bow torpedo tubes can be seen.

literature

Chris Chant: Modern Submarines Engineering Tactics Armament. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 1st edition 2005, ISBN 3-7276-7150-5 .

Explanations

↑ The French metric 550 mm standard can be converted to the internationally popular 533 mm standard (21 inches ) with plug-in adapters.
↑ ^a ^b Les sous-marins d'escadre type Narval. netmarine.net, 2007, accessed on January 2, 2016 (French).
^ Sous-marin Espadon: Caractéristiques principales. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab Sous-marin d'escadre Narval. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).
↑ ^a ^b Sous-marin d'escadre Marsouin. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).
↑ ^a ^b Sous-marin d'escadre Dauphin. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).
↑ ^a ^b Sous-marin d'escadre Requin. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).
^ Sous-marin d'escadre espadon. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).
^ Sous-marin d'escadre Morse. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).

[Einsteckrohr-1] The French metric 550 mm standard can be converted to the internationally popular 533 mm standard (21 inches ) with plug-in adapters.

[netmarine.net_Espadon_Generalites-2] Les sous-marins d'escadre type Narval. netmarine.net, 2007, accessed on January 2, 2016 (French).

[netmarine.net_Espadon_Carater-3] Sous-marin Espadon: Caractéristiques principales. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).

[netmarine.net_Narval-4] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab Sous-marin d'escadre Narval. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).

[netmarine.net_Marsouin-5] Sous-marin d'escadre Marsouin. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).

[netmarine.net_Dauphin-6] Sous-marin d'escadre Dauphin. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).

[netmarine.net_Requin-7] Sous-marin d'escadre Requin. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).

[netmarine.net_Espadon-8] Sous-marin d'escadre espadon. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).

[netmarine.net_Morse-9] Sous-marin d'escadre Morse. netmarine.net, 2012, accessed January 1, 2016 (French).