Sapphire grade
Sapphire grade 
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
| General data | |
| Ship type : | Submarine |
| Navy : | |
| Builder : | Arsenal de Toulon ( Toulon ) |
| Units: | 6th |
| Boats of the class | |
|
|
|
| Technical specifications | |
| Crew: | 42 men |
| Displacement : |
|
| Length : | 65.9 m |
| Width: | 7.1 m |
| Draft : | 4.3 m |
| Drive : | |
| Speed : | |
| Fuel supply: | 95 t |
| Driving range: |
|
| Diving depth : | 80 m |
| Armament | |
| Artillery : | 1 × 75 mm L / 35 deck gun |
| Air defense : |
|
| Torpedoes : | 3 × 550 mm torpedo tubes |
| Sea mines : | 32 mines in 16 vertical shafts |
The Saphir class was a class of medium-sized mine-laying submarines in the French Navy . In the French type classification of the time, the boats were assigned to class 3 .
Between 1925 and 1937, six submarines were built at the Toulon naval shipyard . Saphir class boats were used by the Vichy French and Free French navies during World War II . Three boats were captured by the Italians, but not used.
Constructive features
The two-hulled boats were designed for diving depths of up to 80 m. To drive a classic combination of two was diesel engines of Vickers and two electric motors used.
A 75 mm deck gun , a 13.2 mm anti-aircraft machine gun and two further 8 mm anti-aircraft machine guns served as armament . In the stern there was a swiveling triplet set of 550 mm torpedo tubes. The main armament of the submarines consisted of a Normand-Fernaux mine -laying system. In the side saddle tanks there were 16 vertical pipes in each of which two sea mines were transported. The same system was used by the only boat of the Pierre Chailly class built from 1917 onwards . The boats of the Polish Wilk class built in France were also equipped with this system.
The boats were considered to be the best submarines of their time in France. The reliable mine-laying system resembled many of the disadvantages of the class such as B. the low speed, more than off.
The class was further developed to the Émeraude class . In June 1940 no boat of the new class was completed. Further construction was interrupted and the project was never completed.
Mission history
In the almost ten months between the beginning of the Second World War on September 1, 1939 and the Franco-German armistice on June 22, 1940, the submarines were used in the North Sea and the Mediterranean .
The boats carried out several operations that mined enemy waters:
- the sapphire laid sea mines off Cagliari on June 13, 1940 . On June 28, 1940, the Italian merchant ship Alicantino ran into one of these mines.
- the Turquoise mined on 14 June 1940, the waters off Trapani .
- the Nautilus also laid sea mines off Tripoli on June 14, 1940 .
After the French surrender on June 22, 1940, the Rubis was in Great Britain and was confiscated by the British during Operation Grasp . The submarine was handed over to the French Armed Forces de Gaulle . During the war the Rubis laid a total of 683 mines, through which 14 ships with a total of 21,000 GRT sank.
The remaining five boats initially remained under the control of the Vichy regime. The diamond was named after the German invasion of southern France, together with the remains of the French fleet in Toulon scuttled. The four other boats were stationed in French North Africa and partially deactivated. Two of these boats were captured by the Italians after the Allied landing in North Africa in Bizerta , one was self- sunk . The pearl fell into Allied hands, but was sunk in 1944 by " friendly fire ".
Boats of the class
- diamond
-
nautilus
- Keel laying: August 8, 1927
- Launched: March 21, 1930
- Commissioning: July 15, 1931
- Where to go : Nautilus was deactivated in Bizerta and captured by the Italians on December 8, 1942. The boat was sunk in Bizerta during an Allied air raid on January 31, 1943. The wreck was later lifted but not repaired. The Nautilus was finally canceled on August 12, 1947.
-
pearl
- Keel laid: July 21, 1931
- Launched: July 30, 1935
- Commissioning: March 1, 1937
- Where: Perle was taken over by the Allies after the Allied landing in North Africa. The submarine was later overtaken in the USA and on July 8, 1944 on its way home in the North Atlantic at position 55 ° 27 ′ N , 33 ° 50 ′ W by a British aircraft mistakenly mistaken for a German boat and sunk.
-
Rubis
- Keel laying: April 3, 1929
- Launched: September 30, 1931
- Commissioning: April 4, 1933
- Where to go: Rubis was taken over by the Free French Navy in 1940 and used successfully until the end of the war. Rubis was decommissioned on October 4, 1949. During the transfer for scrapping, the submarine sank as a result of an accident.
-
sapphire
- Keel laying: May 25, 1926
- Launched: December 20, 1928
- Commissioning: September 30, 1930
- Where to go : Saphir was deactivated in Bizerta, captured there by the Italians on December 8, 1942 and in FR. 112 renamed. The submarine was captured by the Germans in Naples on September 15, 1943 . The further whereabouts are unclear.
-
Turquoise
- Keel laying: October 20, 1926
- Launched: May 16, 1929
- Commissioning: September 10, 1930
- Where to go : Turquoise was deactivated in Bizerta and captured by the Italians on December 8, 1942. The submarine was sunk by the Italians on May 6, 1943 off the Tunisian coast. The Allies later lifted the wreck but did not repair it. The Turquoise was finally canceled on August 12, 1947.
See also
Web links
- Sapphire class in uboat.net ( engl. )
literature
- Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II. (Technology - Classes - Types. A Comprehensive Encyclopedia). 5th edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-613-01252-9 .
Footnotes
- ↑ The French Navy distinguished 3 classes of submarines: 1st class boats were ocean-going boats. 2nd class boats were smaller coastal boats. 3rd class boats were mine layers .
- ↑ The name means diamond in the French language . A planned but not built nuclear submarine of the French Rubis class should also bear the name Diamant .
- ↑ Nautilus means sailor in Greek , see Nautilus .
- ↑ The name means pearl . A Rubis-class nuclear submarine also bears this name.
- ↑ The name means ruby . The lead ship of the French Rubis class also bears this name.
- ↑ The name means sapphire . A Rubis-class nuclear submarine also bears this name.
- ↑ Turquoise means turquoise . This name was also provided for a planned Rubis-class submarine .