French submarine Floréal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Floréal c. 1909 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Floréal |
| Namesake | The second month of spring in the French Republican calendar |
| Builder | Arsenal de Cherbourg |
| Laid down | 1906 |
| Launched | 18 April 1908 |
| Completed | 16 June 1909 |
| Identification | Pennant number: Q54 |
| Fate | Sunk in a collision, 2 August 1918 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type | Submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| 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 |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range |
|
| Complement | 2 officers and 23 crewmen |
| Armament |
|
Floréal was one of 18 Pluviôse-class submarines built for the French Navy (Marine Nationale) in the first decade of the 20th century.
On 2 August 1918, Floréal collided with the Royal Navy armed boarding steamer HMS Hazel in the Aegean Sea and sank.[1]
In January 2024, the boat was found in good condition at a depth of 98 metres in the Thermaic Gulf by a team of wreck hunters led by Kostas Toktaridis.[2]
The Pluviôse class were built as part of the French Navy's 1905 building program to a double-hull design by Maxime Laubeuf.[3] The submarines displaced 404 metric tons (398 long tons) surfaced and 553 metric tons (544 long tons) submerged. They had an overall length of 51.12 meters (167 ft 9 in), a beam of 4.96 meters (16 ft 3 in), and a draft of 3.15 meters (10 ft 4 in). Their crew numbered 2 officers and 23 enlisted men.[4]
For surface running, the boats were powered by two 350-metric-horsepower (345 bhp; 257 kW) triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by two Du Temple boilers. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 230-metric-horsepower (227 bhp; 169 kW) electric motor.[5] On the surface they were designed to reach a maximum speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) and 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) underwater.[3] The submarines had a surface endurance of 865 nautical miles (1,602 km; 995 mi) at 11.6 knots (21.5 km/h; 13.3 mph) and a submerged endurance of 70 nmi (130 km; 81 mi) at 2.8 knots (5.2 km/h; 3.2 mph).[6]
The first six boats completed, including Floréal, were armed with a single 450-millimeter (17.7 in) internal bow torpedo tube. All of the boats were fitted with six 450 mm external torpedo launchers; the pair firing forward were fixed outwards at an angle of seven degrees and the rear pair had an angle of five degrees. Following a ministerial order on 22 February 1910, the aft tubes were reversed so they too fired forward, but at an angle of eight degrees. The other launchers were a rotating pair of Drzewiecki drop collars in a single mount positioned on top of the hull at the stern. They could traverse 150 degrees to each side of the boat. The Pluviôse-class submarines carried eight torpedoes.[7]
