''Pluviôse'' (Q51) was the

name ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of her class of 18 submarines built for the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

() in the first decade of the 20th century.

Design and description

The ''Pluviôse'' class were built as part of the French Navy's 1905 building program to a

double-hull A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is some dis ...

design by

Maxime Laubeuf Maxime Laubeuf was a French maritime engineer of the late nineteenth century. He was born on 23 November 1864 at Poissy, Yvelines, and died on 23 December 1939 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes. Laubeuf was a pioneer in the design and building of s ...

.Smigielski, p. 209 The submarines displaced surfaced and submerged. They had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of , a beam of , and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of . Their crew numbered 2 officers and 23 enlisted men. For surface running, the boats were powered by two triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

using steam provided by two

Du Temple boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, a ...

s. When submerged each propeller was driven by a

electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate for ...

. On the surface they were designed to reach a maximum speed of and underwater. The submarines had a surface endurance of at and a submerged endurance of at . The first six boats completed, including ''Pluviôse'', were armed with a single internal bow

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

, but after an accident that lead to the sinking of their sister in 1909, the tubes were removed from ''Pluviôse'' and her sister ''Messidor''. All of the boats were fitted with six 450 mm external

torpedo launcher A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s; the pair firing forward were fixed outwards at an angle of seven degrees and the rear pair had an angle of five degrees. Following a ministerial order on 22 February 1910, the aft tubes were reversed so they too fired forward, but at an angle of eight degrees. The other launchers were a rotating pair of Drzewiecki drop collars in a single mount positioned on top of the hull at the stern. They could traverse 150 degrees to each side of the boat. The ''Pluviôse''-class submarines carried eight torpedoes.

Construction and career

''Pluviôse'', named for the fifth month of the French Republican calendar, was ordered on 26 August 1905 from the

Arsenal de Cherbourg Cherbourg Naval Base is a naval base in Cherbourg Harbour, Cherbourg, Manche department, Normandy. The town has been a base of the French Navy since the opening of the military port in 1813. History Early works Cherbourg had been a stronghold si ...

. The submarine was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

in 1906, launched on 27 June 1907 and commissioned on 5 October 1908.Couhat, p. 140; Garier 1998, p. 49 On the afternoon of 26 May 1910 ''Pluviôse'' was cruising off Calais when she was involved in a collision with the packet boat ''Pas de Calais''. ''Pluviôse'' sank with the loss of all hands, 27 men. The vessel was later raised and repaired, and returned to active service. Her captain at the time of the accident Maurice Callot, was later honoured by having a submarine named after him. ''Pluviôse'' was stricken in 1919 and used for compression tests. She was eventually sold for scrap in 1925.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

''Pluviôse'' at Sous-marins Français 1863 -
(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pluviose Pluviôse-class submarines World War I submarines of France 1907 ships Ships built in France Submarines sunk in collisions Warships lost with all hands Submarines lost with all hands Maritime incidents in 1910