Argonaute (S636)

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Argonaute on display
Argonaute on display in Paris
Career French Naval Ensign
Name: Argonaute
Namesake: Argonauts
Operator: French Navy
Launched: 23 October 1958
Decommissioned: 31 July 1982
Fate: Preserved as museum ship
General characteristics
Displacement: 543 tons surfaced
669 tons submerged
Length: 49.6 m (162 ft 9 in)
Beam: 5.8 m (19 ft 0 in)
Draft: 4 m (13 ft 1 in)
Propulsion: 2 × 12 cylinder diesel engines (1,060 hp/790 kW)
1 electric motor (1,300 hp/970 kW)
1 shaft
Speed: 12.5 kn (23.2 km/h) surfaced
16 kn (30 km/h) submerged
Complement: 39
Armament: 4 × 550 mm (22 in) torpedo tubes
8 × torpedoes

Argonaute (S636) is a Aréthuse-class submarine, and the fourth ship of the French Navy to bear the name.

Launched on October 23, 1958, she served as flagship within the Toulon submarine squadron, and spent over 2,000 days at sea and over 32,000 hours underwater. She was decommissioned on July 31, 1982.

After extensive discussions beginning in 1982, in 1989 the Argonaute was transfered from Toulon via Gibraltar to Le Havre, then through the seven locks of the Saint-Denis Canal. Once at the quay on the Canal de l'Ourcq, she was lifted from the water by cranes and transported by trailer to its current site.

The Argonaute opened to the public in 1991, outside the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, 30 Avenue Corentin Cariou, in the XIXe arrondissement of Paris. The interior is open daily except Mondays and national holidays; an admission fee is charged.

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