French submarine Farfadet (Q7): Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| (94 intermediate revisions by 40 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{|{{Infobox ship begin}} |
|||
The '''Farfadet''' was a Morse-type French [[submarine]] launched with the ''Lutin'' in 1901. It is remembered chiefly for the accident of July 6, 1905, off the coast of Tunisia, which killed all 14 of its crew. The details of the catastrophe, once released by the press, horrified France and drew national attention to the dangers of submarines, which the French Ministry of Marine was at that time investing a great deal of money in. After the Farfadet accident and the recent British [[A8]] submarine disaster (june 1905), sailors began to refer to submarines as "iron tombs", and the vessel's fate reflects that of the Russian craft [[Kursk]] almost 100 years later. The year after the ''Farfadet'' disaster, the completion of [[HMS Dreadnought]] shifted the focus of European navies, and thenceforth arguably only the German navy gave submarines and [[submersibles]] any priority.<br /> |
|||
{{Infobox ship image |
|||
[[Image:farfadet-sm.jpg]] |
|||
|Ship image=Le sous-marin Farfadet - carte postale ancienne - A Bougault ca 1905.jpg |
|||
== Name == |
|||
|Ship caption=The submarine ''Farfadet'', {{c.}} 1905 |
|||
Farfadet means "merry spirit" and is a type of sprite or goblin in French folklore. The goblin is present in the folklore of the south of [[France]], the [[Vendée]] and [[Poitou]].<br /> |
|||
}} |
|||
{{Infobox ship career |
|||
|Hide header= |
|||
|Ship country=France |
|||
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|France|naval}} |
|||
|Ship name=''Farfadet'' |
|||
|Ship ordered=26 September 1899 |
|||
|Ship awarded= |
|||
|Ship builder= |
|||
|Ship original cost= |
|||
|Ship yard number= |
|||
|Ship way number= |
|||
|Ship laid down= |
|||
|Ship launched=17 May 1901 |
|||
|Ship christened= |
|||
|Ship completed= |
|||
|Ship acquired= |
|||
|Ship commissioned= |
|||
|Ship recommissioned= |
|||
|Ship decommissioned= |
|||
|Ship in service= |
|||
|Ship out of service= |
|||
|Ship renamed=''Follet'', 1909 |
|||
|Ship reclassified= |
|||
|Ship refit= |
|||
|Ship struck=November 1913 |
|||
|Ship reinstated= |
|||
|Ship homeport= |
|||
|Ship identification= |
|||
|Ship motto= |
|||
|Ship nickname= |
|||
|Ship honors= |
|||
|Ship captured= |
|||
|Ship fate=Sunk, 5 July 1905 and refloated |
|||
|Ship notes= |
|||
|Ship badge= |
|||
}} |
|||
{{Infobox ship characteristics |
|||
|Hide header= |
|||
|Header caption= |
|||
|Ship class={{sclass|Farfadet|submarine}} |
|||
|Ship displacement=*185 tons surfaced |
|||
*202 tons submerged |
|||
|Ship length={{convert|41.3|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |
|||
|Ship beam={{convert|2.9|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |
|||
|Ship draught={{convert|2.6|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |
|||
|Ship power={{convert|185|hp|lk=in|abbr=on}} |
|||
|Ship propulsion=1 shaft, 1 electric motor |
|||
|Ship speed=*{{convert|6.1|kn|lk=in}} surfaced |
|||
*{{convert|4.3|kn}} submerged |
|||
|Ship range=*{{convert|115|nmi|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|5.3|kn}} surfaced |
|||
*{{convert|28|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|4.32|kn}} submerged |
|||
|Ship test depth= |
|||
|Ship complement=16 |
|||
|Ship armament=4 × {{convert|450|mm|in|abbr=on}} torpedoes on [[Drzewiecki drop collar]]s |
|||
|Ship notes= |
|||
}} |
|||
|} |
|||
'''''Farfadet'' (Q7)''' was the [[lead ship]] of [[Farfadet-class submarine|her class]] of four [[submarine]]s built for the [[French Navy]] at the beginning of the 20th century. She was of the [[Gabriel Maugas|Maugas]] type. ''Farfadet'' accidentally sank in July 1905 at [[Bizerte]] with the loss of 14 men of her crew; two men survived. She was later refloated and [[ship commissioning|recommissioned]] as the '''''Follet'''''. She was stricken in November 1913. |
|||
==Design and construction== |
|||
== French naval buildup == |
|||
''Farfadet'' was ordered by the French Navy under its 1899 building programme. She was designed by [[Gabriel Maugas]], an early French submarine engineer, and was built at the [[Arsenal de Rochefort|Naval Dockyard]] in [[Rochfort]]. She was single-hulled, and powered by two Sautter-Harlé electric motors, with a power output of 300 [[metric horsepower|cv]]. ''Farfadet'' was laid down in September 1899, [[launched (ship)|launched]] on 17 May 1901, and entered service on 29 August 1902.<ref name=Q007>[https://archive.today/20150815152532/http://sous-marin.france.pagesperso-orange.fr/Q007.htm ''Farfadet'' (Q7)] at sous-marins français (archived page); retrieved 28 February 2017</ref> |
|||
In the early 1900s the [[French Navy]] made a concerted effort to build up its submarine fleet. [[The Times]] of London on April 5, 1904 notes that "26 submersibles of various types" were being developed by its nearest neighbour, with a total of 47 on the drawing board. At this time the vessels were listed as:<br /> |
|||
==Service history== |
|||
'''Submarines:''' ''Morse, Français, Algeríen, Naïade, Protée, Lynx, Ludion, Gnôme, Lutin, Loutre, Castor, Gustave Zédé, Gymnote, Perle, Esturgeon, Bonite, Thon, Sontfleur, Dorade, Farfadet, Korrigan''.<br /> |
|||
The submarine is remembered chiefly for the accident of 6 July 1905, off the coast of [[Tunisia]], which killed 14 of its crew. The details of the catastrophe, once released by the press, horrified France and drew national attention to the dangers of submarines, which the French Ministry of Marine was at that time investing a great deal of money in. After the ''Farfadet'' accident and the recent British {{HMS|A8}} submarine disaster (June 1905), sailors began to refer to submarines as "iron tombs". {{citation needed|date=February 2017}} |
|||
[[File:Sous marin Farfadet 1905.jpg|left|250px|thumb|Faradet raised 1905]] |
|||
On 6 July 1905, during a routine patrol ''en route'' from Sidi Abdallah to [[Bizerte]], in [[Tunisia]], ''Farfadet'' sank suddenly, taking 14 of her crew with her. Only two escaped, being on deck when the incident occurred. A rescue attempt failed and the crew were lost. |
|||
'''Submersibles:''' ''Narval, Siréne, Triton, Silure, Espadon'' <br /> |
|||
''Farfadet'' was raised a week later, restored and recommissioned on 17 December 1908 under the name ''Follet'' ("[[Will-o-the-wisp]]"). She remained in service for five years before being stricken in November 1913.<ref name=Q007/> |
|||
== Name == |
|||
[[Farfadet]] means "merry spirit" and is a type of sprite or goblin in French folktale. The goblin is present in the folklore of the south of [[France]], the [[Vendée]] and [[Poitou]]. |
|||
== |
==Accident== |
||
The Times of July 7, 1905 reports that, on a routine cruise after leaving the port of Sidi Abdullah in French Tunisia, the ''Farfadet'', heading for its home port of [[Bizerta]] in France, attempted to dive with a "skylight" (hatch) improperly shut. The guard officer tried to force it closed and then, mistakenly, tried to open it and slam it shut again. The submarine had by this point submerged; the force of the water forced the hatch down in a skewed position from which it would not move. As the submarine dived the hatch was forced from its place entirely and the guard captain blown from his position by the force of the water. Four sailors in the bow were drowned, and the weight caused the ''Farfadet'' to dip and dive straight down, where it became embedded in the mud at the bottom of the harbour.<br /> |
|||
===As reported in ''The Times''=== |
|||
''The Times'' of 7 July 1905 reports that, on a routine cruise after leaving the port of Sidi Abdullah in French Tunisia, ''Farfadet'', heading for its home port of [[Bizerte]] in Tunisia, attempted to dive with a "skylight" (hatch) improperly shut. The guard officer tried to force it closed and then, mistakenly, tried to open it and slam it shut again. The submarine had by this point submerged; the force of the water forced the hatch down in a skewed position from which it would not move. As the submarine dived the hatch was forced from its place entirely and the guard captain blown from his position by the force of the water. Four sailors in the bow were drowned, and the weight of water in the flooded forward section caused ''Farfadet'' to dip and dive straight down, where it became embedded in the mud at the bottom of the harbour.<ref>''The Times'', July 7, 1905, p. 10</ref> |
|||
== |
===Alternative version=== |
||
Submarine pioneer [[John P. Holland]] wrote in ''How To Fly Like a Bird'' that |
Submarine pioneer [[John P. Holland]] wrote in ''How To Fly Like a Bird'' (1906) that ''Farfadet'' had moved in such a way as to upset her ballast tank, which in turn submerged an open hatch. A similar fate was suffered by the British A8, which had spun onto its side while trying to avoid a trawler, dipping its [[conning tower]] underwater and so flooding itself, "excepting that in [''Farfadet''{{'}}s] case there occurred a change of speed or inclination that caused the water in her partially filled tank to move to her forward end, thus causing the common centre of gravity of the boat, and the water in its tanks, to move far enough forward to force the forward part of the boat under water. This unexpected manoeuvre, combined with her speed, forced the top of her turret under and she took enough water on board to send her to the bottom."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091026215607/http://www.geocities.com/gwmccue/Documents/FlyLikeBird.html How to Fly As a Bird]-John Philip Holland, 1906</ref> |
||
===Attempted rescue and salvage=== |
|||
''The Times'' of 7 July 1905 records that at 9am on 7 July, divers reached ''Farfadet'' and found that the crew were responding to knocks. Four hawser (steel) cables were wrapped around the submarine in preparation for the arrival of a 20-ton pontoon and crane, belonging to the Hersen Company. At 3.20pm the vessel was raised, its aft portion breaking the water so that airlocks could be opened and the air inside renewed for the surviving crew. Attempts were then made to ground the submarine in shallow water, but at 12.45 the next morning the crane broke, sending the submarine back to the bottom of the harbour. Further efforts to recover it, involving the French steamer ''Audax'', were in vain. |
|||
On 15 July 1905, ''Farfadet'' was raised using a floating dock and towed to the harbour of Sidi Abdallah. That night work began on removing the bodies. The four in the forward compartment had died instantly, the eight aft when the crane had broken. It was found that the sailors had attempted to plug the airholes with their tunics. Two more bodies were found amidships. |
|||
It was found that the [[sulfuric acid]] of the engine's accumulators (batteries) had combined with the seawater to create [[hydrochloric acid]], which had eaten away the instruments and bodies and made work on retrieval impossible until ventilators had been fitted to the aft of the vessel. The last of the crew had died after being trapped for 32 hours. Eight of the 14 crew were from [[Brittany]].<ref>''Le Petit Journal'', July 29, 1905</ref> |
|||
==References== |
|||
{{reflist}} |
|||
==Bibliography== |
|||
== Attempted rescue and salvage== |
|||
{{Commons category}} |
|||
''The Times'' of July 7, 1905 records that at 9am on July 7, divers reached the ''Farfadet'' and found that the crew were responding to knocks. Four hawser (steel) cables were wrapped around the submarine in preparation for the arrival of a 20-ton pontoon and crane, belonging to the Hersen Company. At 3.20pm the vessel was raised, its aft portion breaking the water so that airlocks could be opened and the air inside renewed for the surviving crew. Attempts were then made to ground the submarine in shallow water, but at 12.45 the next morning the crane broke, sending the submarine back to the bottom of the harbour. Further efforts to recover it, involving the French steamer ''Audax'', were in vain.<br /> |
|||
*{{cite book |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905 |editor1-last=Chesneau |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Kolesnik |editor2-first=Eugene M. |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=Greenwich |year=1979 |isbn=0-8317-0302-4 |name-list-style=amp |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2|chapter=France|author1-last=Campbell|author1-first=N. J. M.|pages=283–333}} |
|||
*{{cite book|last=Garier|first=Gérard|title=L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France|volume=1: Du ''Plongeur'' (1863) aux ''Guêpe'' (1904)|year=n.d.|publisher=Marines édition|location=Bourg-en-Bresse, France| trans-title=The Technical and Human Odyssey of the Submarine in France: From ''Plongeur'' (1863) to ''Guêpe'' (1904)|isbn=2-909675-19-X|language=French}} |
|||
* {{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Stephen S.|title=French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates |year=2021|location=Barnsley, UK|publisher=Seaforth Publishing |isbn=978-1-5267-4533-0}} |
|||
{{Farfadet class submarines}} |
|||
On July 15, 1905, the Farfadet was raised using a floating dock, and towed to the harbour of Sidi Abdallah. That night work began on removing the bodies. The four in the forward compartment had died instantly, the eight aft when the crane had broken. It was found that the sailors had attempted to plug the airholes with their tunics. Two more bodies were found amidships.<br /> |
|||
{{1905 shipwrecks}} |
|||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farfadet (Q7)}} |
|||
It was found that the [[sulphuric acid]] of the engine's accumulators (batteries) had combined with the seawater to create [[hydrochloric acid]], which had eaten away the instruments and bodies and made work on retrieval impossible until ventilators had been fitted to the aft of the vessel. The last of the crew had died after being trapped for 32 hours. Eight of the 14 crew dead were [[Bretagnese]]. |
|||
[[Category:Farfadet-class submarines]] |
|||
[[Category:Ships built in France]] |
|||
[[Category:1901 ships]] |
|||
[[Category:French submarine accidents]] |
|||
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1905]] |
|||
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea]] |
|||
Latest revision as of 02:46, 27 September 2023
 The submarine Farfadet, c. 1905
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Farfadet |
| Ordered | 26 September 1899 |
| Launched | 17 May 1901 |
| Renamed | Follet, 1909 |
| Stricken | November 1913 |
| Fate | Sunk, 5 July 1905 and refloated |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Farfadet-class submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 41.3 m (135 ft 6 in) |
| Beam | 2.9 m (9 ft 6 in) |
| Draught | 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power | 185 hp (138 kW) |
| Propulsion | 1 shaft, 1 electric motor |
| Speed |
|
| Range |
|
| Complement | 16 |
| Armament | 4 × 450 mm (18 in) torpedoes on Drzewiecki drop collars |
Farfadet (Q7) was the lead ship of her class of four submarines built for the French Navy at the beginning of the 20th century. She was of the Maugas type. Farfadet accidentally sank in July 1905 at Bizerte with the loss of 14 men of her crew; two men survived. She was later refloated and recommissioned as the Follet. She was stricken in November 1913.
Design and construction
[edit]Farfadet was ordered by the French Navy under its 1899 building programme. She was designed by Gabriel Maugas, an early French submarine engineer, and was built at the Naval Dockyard in Rochfort. She was single-hulled, and powered by two Sautter-Harlé electric motors, with a power output of 300 cv. Farfadet was laid down in September 1899, launched on 17 May 1901, and entered service on 29 August 1902.[1]
Service history
[edit]The submarine is remembered chiefly for the accident of 6 July 1905, off the coast of Tunisia, which killed 14 of its crew. The details of the catastrophe, once released by the press, horrified France and drew national attention to the dangers of submarines, which the French Ministry of Marine was at that time investing a great deal of money in. After the Farfadet accident and the recent British HMS A8 submarine disaster (June 1905), sailors began to refer to submarines as "iron tombs". [citation needed]
On 6 July 1905, during a routine patrol en route from Sidi Abdallah to Bizerte, in Tunisia, Farfadet sank suddenly, taking 14 of her crew with her. Only two escaped, being on deck when the incident occurred. A rescue attempt failed and the crew were lost. Farfadet was raised a week later, restored and recommissioned on 17 December 1908 under the name Follet ("Will-o-the-wisp"). She remained in service for five years before being stricken in November 1913.[1]
Name
[edit]Farfadet means "merry spirit" and is a type of sprite or goblin in French folktale. The goblin is present in the folklore of the south of France, the Vendée and Poitou.
Accident
[edit]As reported in The Times
[edit]The Times of 7 July 1905 reports that, on a routine cruise after leaving the port of Sidi Abdullah in French Tunisia, Farfadet, heading for its home port of Bizerte in Tunisia, attempted to dive with a "skylight" (hatch) improperly shut. The guard officer tried to force it closed and then, mistakenly, tried to open it and slam it shut again. The submarine had by this point submerged; the force of the water forced the hatch down in a skewed position from which it would not move. As the submarine dived the hatch was forced from its place entirely and the guard captain blown from his position by the force of the water. Four sailors in the bow were drowned, and the weight of water in the flooded forward section caused Farfadet to dip and dive straight down, where it became embedded in the mud at the bottom of the harbour.[2]
Alternative version
[edit]Submarine pioneer John P. Holland wrote in How To Fly Like a Bird (1906) that Farfadet had moved in such a way as to upset her ballast tank, which in turn submerged an open hatch. A similar fate was suffered by the British A8, which had spun onto its side while trying to avoid a trawler, dipping its conning tower underwater and so flooding itself, "excepting that in [Farfadet's] case there occurred a change of speed or inclination that caused the water in her partially filled tank to move to her forward end, thus causing the common centre of gravity of the boat, and the water in its tanks, to move far enough forward to force the forward part of the boat under water. This unexpected manoeuvre, combined with her speed, forced the top of her turret under and she took enough water on board to send her to the bottom."[3]
Attempted rescue and salvage
[edit]The Times of 7 July 1905 records that at 9am on 7 July, divers reached Farfadet and found that the crew were responding to knocks. Four hawser (steel) cables were wrapped around the submarine in preparation for the arrival of a 20-ton pontoon and crane, belonging to the Hersen Company. At 3.20pm the vessel was raised, its aft portion breaking the water so that airlocks could be opened and the air inside renewed for the surviving crew. Attempts were then made to ground the submarine in shallow water, but at 12.45 the next morning the crane broke, sending the submarine back to the bottom of the harbour. Further efforts to recover it, involving the French steamer Audax, were in vain.
On 15 July 1905, Farfadet was raised using a floating dock and towed to the harbour of Sidi Abdallah. That night work began on removing the bodies. The four in the forward compartment had died instantly, the eight aft when the crane had broken. It was found that the sailors had attempted to plug the airholes with their tunics. Two more bodies were found amidships.
It was found that the sulfuric acid of the engine's accumulators (batteries) had combined with the seawater to create hydrochloric acid, which had eaten away the instruments and bodies and made work on retrieval impossible until ventilators had been fitted to the aft of the vessel. The last of the crew had died after being trapped for 32 hours. Eight of the 14 crew were from Brittany.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Farfadet (Q7) at sous-marins français (archived page); retrieved 28 February 2017
- ^ The Times, July 7, 1905, p. 10
- ^ How to Fly As a Bird-John Philip Holland, 1906
- ^ Le Petit Journal, July 29, 1905
Bibliography
[edit]
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Garier, Gérard (n.d.). L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France [The Technical and Human Odyssey of the Submarine in France: From Plongeur (1863) to Guêpe (1904)] (in French). Vol. 1: Du Plongeur (1863) aux Guêpe (1904). Bourg-en-Bresse, France: Marines édition. ISBN 2-909675-19-X.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
