French submarine Circé (Q 47)
Circé is a submarine of the French Navy built in Toulon from 1904. It is part of the Circé-class submarine (1907).
History
The Circé was one of two submarines of the Circé class, built after the design by Maxime Laubeuf.
Its sister ship was the Calypso (Q48), which sank in July 1914 after a collision with the Circé.
On 29 April 1915 Circé made several attempts to penetrate the harbour of Cattaro. Finally she gained entrance, but found no targets and had to retire.
On 31 March 1917 in the Adriatic, she lanced a torpedo towards the SM UC-35, but missed.
On 24 May 1917, under command of Lt. Hélion De Cambourg, she succeeded in sinking the German submarine SM UC-24. This was one of the few kills (if not the only) by a French submarine during World War I.
On 20 September 1918, the Circé under command of Lt. Henri Viaud was on anti-submarine patrol in the Southern Adriatic Sea, off Cattaro, when she was torpedoed by Austrian U-47 at 04h00, while recharging her batteries. Only one survivor, second in command Eugène Lapeyre, was picked up.