French Submarine Boats, 1859-1897: Photo Gallery

Plongeur (French "special screw ship") as an experimental submarine. Figures 11-13 show her emergency lifeboat, carried in a well on deck amidships. (Drawing: Vice Admiral Pâris, Art Naval en 1867, and Wikimedia)

Plongeur (French "special screw ship") at the Rochefort arsenal after conversion to a water tender (citerne). She is alongside a Troude class cruiser. (Photo: Wikimedia)

Goubet (French "submarine torpedo boat," Bâteau torpilleur sous-marin) at Toulon. Two men sat under the cupola where they maneuvered the craft, towing a "torpedo" (mine) under the hull of an enemy ship and later detonating it through an electric wire. Goubet I was never accepted into the Navy. This may be Goubet II, built privately in 1895 with a crew of three and tested at Toulon in 1900. (Photo: Postcard by A. Bougault, Toulon)

Gymnote (French submarine boat) being launched from a transport wagon into a dock at Toulon in 1888. The vessel in this initial configuration was controlled from a small cupola amidships that could be raised out of the hull (not visible here). She was an experimental vessel that only received a torpedo armament when rebuilt in 1897-1900. (Photo: Shipscribe collection)

Gustave Zédé (French submarine boat), ex Sirène, at Toulon in 1903 in her fourth and last configuration (1903-09). The battleships in the background are Jaureguiberry (left), Carnot, and Hoche. These early "electric" submarines were propelled entirely by battery power. (Photo: Postcard by LL.)

Morse (French submarine boat) at Cherbourg. She was completed in 1900 and is shown here in her second configuration (1902-11). Like Gustave Zédé she had a hull made of bronze and a single torpedo tube in her bow. (Photo: Wikimedia)