French submarine Créole (Q193)


Model of the Africaine (Q196), sister-ship of the Créole
Career (France)
Name: Créole
Namesake: "Creol"
Builder: Le Havre
Laid down: 1937
Launched: 8 June 1940
General characteristics
Class and type: Aurore class submarine
Displacement:

900 tonnes surfaced

1170 tonnes submerged
Length: 73.5 metres
Beam: 6.5 metres
Draught: 4.2 metres
Propulsion:

Diesel: 3000 shp (2237 KW)

1400 shp (1044 KW) electrical
Speed:

15 knots surfaced

9 knots submerged
Range:

5600 nm a 10 knots
2250 nmi at 15 knots

80 nm submerged at 5 knots
Test depth: 100 m
Armament:

1 x 100 mm deck gun
2 x 13.2 mm machine guns

9 x 550mm torpedo tubes

Créole (Q193) was an Aurore-class submarine of the French navy.

The Créole was launched on 8 June 1940 at Le Havre. To avoid capture by the advancing German armies, the Créole, still unfinished, was towed to La Pallice, and on 18 June she was taken in tow from La Pallice to Swansea. On 1 July 1940, she was taken in British custody during Operation Catapult [1].

The Créole was completed after the war and commissioned in the French Navy on 1 April 1949. Her silhouette was departed from the pre-war design, with a modified sail and a schnorchel.

The Créole took part in the Suez Crisis, and sustained damage in a friendly fire incident with airplanes from the Arromanches.

On 23 March 1962, she collided with the Sidi Ferruch, off Toulon, severely damaging her sail plan.

She was eventually decommissioned and broken up in 1963.

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