French Narval-class submarine

Espadon in Saint-Nazaire

The Narval class (sous-marins d'escadre, "fleet submarines") were patrol submarines built for the French Navy in the 1950s.

Design

The Narval type was an offspring of the E-48 project, inspired by the German Type XXI U-boats of the Second World War, particularly which were brought into French service.

Compared to the Type XXI, the Narval class introduced an entirely new schnorchel system and novel detection systems, gained 33% in operational range on electric power (, compared to the available to the type XXI), and doubled the test depth. The propellers were also particularly studied to minimise noise.

The hulls of the Narvals were assembled from seven sections welded together.

The engine were two-stroke diesels made by the French constructor Schneider, which proved unreliable and noisy to the point where the engine section became difficult to man at full power.

From 1966 to 1970, the Narvals underwent extensive modernisation, where their engines were replaced by a diesel-electrical design based on the SEMT-Pielstick 12PA4-185. The two stern torpedo tubes were deleted, electronics were replaced, and the conning tower was replaced by a more modern sail plan from the .

Service history

The Narvals were used to explore limits of submarines performances in several ways.

File:Sous-marins au port de La Pallice (La Rochelle) (1).jpg

Dauphin (foreground) and Espadon (background) in La Rochelle, July 1969

In 1958, and broke the 30-day world record of the longest underwater cruise held jointly by the nuclear-powered and , with 32 and 42 days submerged respectively.

In 1964, and sailed up to the 70th parallel north to prepare the first French attempts at navigation under sea ice. These tests were carried out the next year by Dauphin and when they spent a week and a half in the 72nd parallel north.

During her last years, from 1980, Requin was fitted with the sonar system planned for the M4 refit of the SNLE. Similarly, Dauphin was extensively modified from 1986 to be used as a test bed for equipment and sensors to be installed on the s, then under design. When finally decommissioned in 1992, she was the oldest submarine in service. She was later expended as a target ship off Toulon.

In 1985, Espadon became the first French submarine used as a museum ship.

Ships

Pennant number	Name	Builder	Completed	Decommissioned	Fate
S631		Arsenal de Cherbourg	1 December 1957	1986
S632			1 October 1957	1987
S633			1 August 1958	1992
S634			1 August 1958	1985
S637		AC Augustin Normand	2 April 1960	1985	Museum ship in Saint Nazaire
S638		AC de la Seine Maritime	2 May 1960	1986

See also

• List of submarines of France

References

• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995
• Les sous-marins d'escadre type Narval

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