French submarine Fresnel

History
France
Name:	Fresnel
Namesake:	Augustin Fresnel
Ordered:	26 August 1905
Builder:	Arsenal de Rochefort
Laid down:	8 October 1905
Launched:	16 June 1908
Commissioned:	22 February 1911
Fate:	Sunk in action, 5 December 1915
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Pluviôse-class submarine
Displacement:	404 t (398 long tons) (surfaced) 553 t (544 long tons) (submerged)
Length:	51.12 m (167 ft 9 in) (o/a)
Beam:	4.96 m (16 ft 3 in)
Draft:	3.15 m (10 ft 4 in)
Installed power:	700 PS (510 kW; 690 bhp) (steam) 2 × Du Temple boilers 400 PS (290 kW; 390 bhp) (electric motors)
Propulsion:	2 × shafts; 2 × Triple-expansion steam engines 2 × electric motors
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) (surfaced) 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (submerged)
Range:	1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) (surfaced) 27 nmi (50 km; 31 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) (submerged)
Complement:	2 officers and 23 crewmen
Armament:	1 × twin 450 mm (17.7 in) Drzewiecki drop collar 4 × external 450 mm torpedo launchers (2 × facing forward, 2 × aft)

French submarine Fresnel (Q65) was a Laubeuf type submarine^[1] of the Pluviôse class, built for the French Navy prior to World War I.^[2]

Design and construction

Fresnel was ordered by the French Navy as part of its 1905 programme and was laid down at the Rochefort Naval Yard in October of that year. She was launched on 16 June 1908 and commissioned 22 February 1911. Fresnel was equipped with Du Temple boilers and reciprocating steam engines for surface propulsion, and CGE Nancy electric motors for power while submerged. She carried eight torpedoes, two internally and six externally.^[2] Fresnel was named for Augustin Fresnel, the 18th century French physicist.

Service history

At the outbreak of the First World War Fresnel was part of the French Mediterranean Fleet, and sailed with that force to the Adriatic tasked with bringing the Austro-Hungarian Fleet to battle or blockading it in its home ports.

On 28 April 1915 Fresnel attacked the naval base at Cattaro, one of a series of raids by French submarines on Austro-Hungarian ports. After a succession of attempts at entering the harbour, Fresnel succeeded on 2 May in passing through the mouth of the bay. Once in, however she was unable to find a target.

Later that year on 5 December 1915, while on close blockade duty off Cattaro, Fresnel was detected and pursued by Austrian warships and aircraft. She was driven aground at the mouth of the Bojana river, scuttled and abandoned. Her destruction was completed by the destroyer Warasdiner, and her crew taken prisoner.^[3][4]

See also

• List of submarines of France

Notes

Bibliography

• Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allen. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5. 
• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5. 
• Garier, Gérard (2002). A l'épreuve de la Grande Guerre. L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France (in French). 3–2. Bourg-en-Bresse, France: Marines édition. ISBN 2-909675-81-5. 
• Garier, Gérard (1998). Des Émeraude (1905-1906) au Charles Brun (1908–1933). L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France (in French). 2. Bourg-en-Bresse, France: Marines édition. ISBN 2-909675-34-3. 
• Moore, J: Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I (1919, reprinted 2003) ISBN 1 85170 378 0

External links

• Castel, Marc: Fresnel at Sous-marins Français 1863 -, pagesperso-orange.fr (French)
• Sieche, Erwin: French naval operations in the Adriatic at gwpda.org