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French submarine Pierre Chailley

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Pierre Chailley
Pierre Chailley sometime before February 1925.
History
France
NamePaul Chailley
NamesakePaul Étienne Pierre Chailley (1886–1914), French naval officer
OperatorFrench Navy
Ordered18 May 1917
BuilderChantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand, Le Havre, France
Laid downMay 1917
Launched19 December 1922
RenamedPierre Chailley 15 February 1923
NamesakePaul Étienne Pierre Chailley (1886–1914), French naval officer
Commissioned1 August 1923
Decommissioned13 May 1936
Stricken13 May 1936
IdentificationNo pennant number
Fate
  • Condemned 14 May 1936
  • Sold 16 April 1937
  • Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and typeUnique minelayer submarine
Displacement
  • 884 long tons (898 t) (surfaced)
  • 1,191 long tons (1,210 t) (submerged)
Length70 m (229 ft 8 in)
Beam7.52 m (24 ft 8 in)
Draft4.04 m (13 ft 3 in)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 13.75 knots (25.5 km/h; 15.8 mph) (surfaced)
  • 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) (submerged)
Range
  • 2,800 nmi (5,190 km; 3,220 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) (surface)
  • 80 nmi (148 km; 92 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) (submerged)
Complement4 officers, 40 men
Armament

Pierre Chailley was a French Navy minelayer submarine commissioned in 1923. She was the ancestor of the Saphir-class submarines, which were the last French minelayer submarines.[1][2] She was decommissioned in 1936.

Pierre Chailley — originally named Paul Chailley — was named for the commanding officer of the submarine Curie, Lieutenant de vaisseau Paul Étienne Pierre Chailley, killed during World War I when two Austro-Hungarian Navy ships sank Curie on 20 December 1914.[3]

Design

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A double-hulled ocean-going submarine, Pierre Chailley was 70 metres (229 ft 8 in) long, with a beam of 7.52 metres (24 ft 8 in) and a draft of 4.04 metres (13 ft 3 in).[1][2] Her surface displacement was 884 long tons (898 t), and her submerged displacement was 1,191 long tons (1,210 t).[1][2][4] She was propelled on the surface by two Sulzer two-stroke diesel engines producing a combined 1,800 horsepower (1,342 kW).[1][2][4] Underwater propulsion was provided by two electric motors producing a combined 1,400 horsepower (1,044 kW).[1][2][4] The twin-propeller propulsion system made it possible to reach a speed of 13.75 knots (25.5 km/h; 15.8 mph) on the surface and 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) when submerged.[1][2][4] She had a range of 2,800 nautical miles (5,190 km; 3,220 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) on the surface and 80 nautical miles (148 km; 92 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) underwater.[1][2][4]

Pierre Chailley′s main armament consisted of 24[5] or 40 (according to different sources) 200-kilogram (441 lb)[2] mines, and she employed the Fernand Fenaux minelaying system, in which the mines were stored in wells placed in inclined external ballast tanks, with a direct release mechanism.[1][4][5] She had six 450-millimetre (18 in) torpedo tubes, four internal at the bow and two trainable external tubes, and carried a total of six torpedoes.[1][4][6] She also had a 100-millimetre (3.9 in) deck gun which fired a 13.6-kilogram (30 lb) shell.[5] Her crew consisted of four officers and 40 petty officers and seamen.[1][2][4]

Construction and commissioning

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Pierre Chailley was ordered during World War I on 18 May 1917 with the name Paul Chailley[7] as part of France's 1917 naval expansion program.[1] She was designed by Marie-Augustin Normand and Fernand Fenaux.[1][2] Her keel was laid down at Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand in Le Havre, France, in May 1917.[2] She was launched on 19 December 1922, completed at the end of 1922,[1][2][4] and renamed Pierre Chailley on 15 February 1923.[7] She was commissioned on 1 August 1923. She had no Q-series pennant number.[1]

Service history

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Pierre Chailley spent her operational career mostly in the Mediterranean Sea.[4] The French Navy used her mainly for the study of and experimentation with undersea warfare techniques.[8]

On 8 April 1925, Pierre Chailley′s trainable torpedo tubes suffered damage.[7] During a minelaying exercise on 20 November 1927, two of her mines became stuck in their launch chutes.[7] She suffered serious damage to her two diesel engines on 13 June 1928[7] and had a water leak in her battery compartment on 27 June 1930.[7]

Pierre Chailley was placed in "special reserve" on 11 July 1933.[7] She officially was declared unfit for use as a combat vessel on 21 January 1935.[7]

Disposal

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Decommissioned and stricken from the navy list on 13 May 1936,[4] Pierre Chailley was condemned at Cherbourg, France, on 14 May 1936.[7] She was towed to Brest, France, on 5 September 1936,[7] sold at Brest on 16 April 1937,[7] and subsequently scrapped.

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Conway′s 1906–1921, p. 213.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Labayle Couhat, p. 160.
  3. ^ "Paul Étienne Pierre CHAILLEY". Ecole Navale (in French). Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Fontenoy, p. 182.
  5. ^ a b c Hird, p. 296.
  6. ^ Gozdawa-Gołębiowski & Wywerka Prekurat, p. 536.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Sous-marin de 1ere classe, mouilleur de mines Classe Français" (PDF). AGASM (in French). 26 September 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  8. ^ Captain Patrick. "PIERRE CHAILLEY (1923/1936)". Marines de Guerre et Poste Navale (in French). Retrieved 21 June 2022.

Bibliography

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  • Fontenoy, Paul E. (2007). Submarines: An Illustrated History of Their Impact (Weapons and Warfare). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85367-623-9.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921. London. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Hird, H. B., Lt. Cmdr. (February 1925). "Professional Notes". Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute. 51 (2): 296. Retrieved 30 April 2023.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Labayle Couhat, Jean (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
  • Gozdawa-Gołębiowski, Jan; Wywerka Prekurat, Tadeusz (1994). Pierwsza wojna światowa na morzu (in Polish). Warsaw: Lampart. ISBN 83-902554-2-1.
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