French submarine Saphir (Q44)

Émeraude-class submarine Saphir in port in Toulon
Career (France)
Name: Saphir Q44
Builder: La Seyne-sur-Mer
Launched: 6 February 1908
Completed: 10 December 1910
Fate: Sank on 15 January 1915
General characteristics
Class and type:Submarine of Émeraude-class submarine
Length:44.90 ft (13.69 m)
Beam:3.90 ft (1.19 m)
Draught:3.76 ft (1.15 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 white oil engines Sautter-Harle
  • 2 electric motors Hillairet Huguet
  • 2 propellers
Speed:11.5 kn (21.3 km/h) surfaced
9.2 kn (17.0 km/h) submerged
Range:113 nmi (209 km) at 4.5 kn (8.3 km/h) surfaced
50 nmi (93 km) at 4.5 kn (8.3 km/h) submerged
Complement:25
Armament:
  • Front 4 torpedo tubes 450 mm
  • Rear: 2 torpedo tubes 450 mm
Notes:Q44

Sapphire is a submarine of the French Navy built in La Seyne-sur-Mer from 1903. It is part of the Émeraude-class submarine.

History

After its launch, the Sapphire was assigned to the Mediterranean. In 1913, it joined a squadron based in Bizerte, Tunisia, to defend the region.[1] In late 1914, it moved closer to the Dardanelles to reach its base in Tenedos to participate in monitoring and blockade of the straits.[2]

On 13 December 1914, a British submarine, the B11, was able to enter the straits and sink a Turkish battleship, the Messudiyeh.[2] On 15 January 1915, to follow the example of B11 and without prior orders,[2] the commander of Sapphire, Lt Henri Fournier, tried to force the entrance of the straits. Diving under the minefield, off Chanak, a leak occurred in the Sapphire. Forced to surface under fire from enemy guns, the commander gave the order to destroy the code documents and to sink the submarine. Located at 1500 m from the coast, the crew tried to gain ground by swimming. The survivors who did not perish from cold (13 of 27 men and the two officers did not survive) were recovered by two boats of the Turkish army and transferred, after interrogation, to prisons including the one in Afyonkarahisar. Some were soon after taken as prisoners to camps Asia Minor where they managed to escape.[3]

Citation

There was a French citation for officers and sailors of the Sapphire submarines

The submarine Saphir Curie and fell gloriously in battle are brought to the agenda of the Naval Staff. In his affliction seeing succumb as valiant servants of the country, the commander reminds everyone how the army should be proud to have in its ranks of officers and crews also capable of heroic actions as those were completed by these brave buildings whose names remain in the maritime splendor. Honor and glory to the officers and crews of the Sapphire and Curie, they deserved well of the Motherland.[4]

Bibliography

Notes
  1. ↑ Garier 2002, p. 59
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Garier 2002, p. 16
  3. ↑ Garier 2002, pp. 143–146
  4. ↑ Garier 2002, p. 146
References

Garier, Gérard Garier (2002). L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France: A l'épreuve de la Grande guerre, Volume 3, Part 2 (in French). Marines Éd. ISBN 9782909675817. - Total pages: 224

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