 Orphée in December 1942. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
  France | |
| Name | Orphée |
| Namesake | Orpheus, aThracianbard, musician,poet andprophet inancient Greek religion |
| Operator | French Navy |
| Ordered | 1928 |
| Builder | Augustin Normand,Le Havre, France |
| Laid down | 22 August 1929 |
| Launched | 10 November 1931 |
| Commissioned | 8 June 1933 |
| Fate | Condemned 26 March 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Diane-classsubmarine |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 64.4 m (211 ft 3 in) |
| Beam | 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 4.3 m (14 ft 1 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range |
|
| Test depth | 80 metres (262 ft) |
| Complement | 3 officers, 38 men |
| Armament |
|
Orphée (Q163) was aFrench NavyDiane-classsubmarinecommissioned in 1933. DuringWorld War II, she operated on theAllied side until 1940, when she became part of the naval forces ofVichy France. In 1942 she joined theFree French Naval Forces. She was condemned in 1946.
Orphée was ordered in 1928 as part of Naval Program 115.[1] Her construction began on 18 December 1928,[1] and herkeel waslaid down at theAugustin Normand shipyard inLe Havre,France, on 22 August 1929.[1] She waslaunched on 10 November 1931.[1][2] Afterfitting out, she wascommissioned fortrials on 1 February 1932.[1] Her official trials began on 16 April 1932,[1] and her final equipping and armament took place atCherbourg, France,[1] from 31 December 1932 to 15 March 1933.[1] She was placed in full commission on 8 June 1933.[1]
On 23 May 1933,Orphée lost a crewman.[1]
On 28 November 1934, the submarineEurydice got underway from Cherbourg to conduct exercises withOrphée andOrphée′ssister shipOréade.[3]
When World War II began on 1 September 1939 with the Germaninvasion of Poland,Orphée was part of the 16th SubmarineDivision — a part of the 1stMaritime Prefecture at the Submarine Center — at Cherbourg along with hersister shipsAmazone,Antiope, andSibylle.[1] France entered the war on the side of theAllies on 3 September 1939.
In 1940 theAllies made plans to intervene inNorway to prevent the shipment ofiron ore fromSweden to Germany viaNarvik on the Norwegian coast. Twelve French submarines were to participate in the operation, including the four submarines of the 16th Division, under the overall command ofRoyal NavyVice AdmiralMax Horton. Accordingly, all four submarines of the 16th Submarine Division got underway in company with the French Navysubmarine tenderJules Verne and proceeded toHarwich, England, where they arrived on 22 March 1940.[4] At Harwich, they formed the 10thFlotilla under Horton's command. The four submarines patrolled in theNorth Sea off the coast of theNetherlands until 7 April 1940 without success.[4]
On 8 April 1940 GermanU-boats began operations in accordance withOperationsbefehl Hartmut ("Operation Order Hartmut")[4] in support ofOperationWeserübung, the German invasion of Norway andDenmark. Allied operations related to Norway became of greater urgency when the German invasion of both countries began on 9 April 1940. The French submarines found limited facilities available to them at Harwich and had to rely largely onJules Verne and spare parts sent fromCherbourg in France for repairs, some of which never were completed.[4] On 21 April 1940,Orphée fired twotorpedoes at the German submarineU-51 in the North Sea at57°N005°E / 57°N 5°E /57; 5, but both missed.[1]
German ground forces advanced into France, the Netherlands,Belgium, andLuxembourg on 10 May 1940, beginning theBattle of France. On 25 May 1940,Jules Verne and the submarines of the 2nd, 13th, and 16th Submarine Divisions arrived inDundee,Scotland.[5] On 4 June 1940Jules Verne and all the French submarines assigned to her departed Dundee and proceeded toBrest, France.[4]
Italy declared war on France on 10 June 1940 andjoined the invasion. As German ground forces approached Brest on 18 June 1940, all French ships received orders at 18:00 to evacuate the port, with those unable to get underway ordered toscuttle themselves.[4] At 18:30,Jules Verne and 13 submarines, includingOrphée, got underway from Brest bound forCasablanca,French Morocco, which they reached on 23 June 1940.[4]
The Battle of France ended in France's defeat andarmisticeswith Germany on 22 June 1940 andwith Italy on 24 June. When both armistices went into effect on 25 June 1940,Orphée was at Casablanca.[1]
After France′s surrender,Orphée served in the naval forces ofVichy France. On 3 July 1940, the British beganOperation Catapult, which sought to seize or neutralize the ships of the French Navy to prevent their use by theAxis powers. TheRoyal Navy′sForce H arrived off the French naval base atMers El Kébir nearOran inAlgeria that day and demanded that the French Navy either turn over the ships based there to British custody or disable them. When the French refused, the Britishwarships opened fire on the French ships in the harbor in theattack on Mers-el-Kébir. French forces at Casablanca were placed on alert that day, and the submarinesAjax,Amazone,Amphitrite,Méduse, andPersée put to sea to patrol off Casablanca.[1] On 5 July,Orphée got underway to relieveAjax andPersée on patrol.[1] The alert status ended on 18 July 1940 in the interest of reducing the wear on French submarines and demands on their crews.[1] Tensions again increased at Casablanca on 21 July 1940 when theFrench Air Force flew a reconnaissance mission overGibraltar, but relaxed a few hours later.[1]
Orphée becameflagship of the 13th Submarine Division — which also includedAmazone,Antiope, andSibylle — in September 1940, and continued to operate from Casablanca during 1940, 1941, and 1942.[1][4] In March 1942 she was reassigned to the new 18th Submarine Division at Casablanca.[1]
On 8 November 1942, Allied forces invadedFrench North Africa inOperation Torch.Orphéesortied at 05:33 to patrol off Casablanca withAmazone,Antiope,Méduse, andSibylle, assigned a patrol areabearing between 85 and 120 degrees fromEl Hank on the coast of French Morocco.[1] As theNaval Battle of Casablanca raged betweenUnited States Navy and Vichy French forces, she sighted several Allied ships on 8 and 9 November 1942, but was unable to attack any of them.[1] French naval authorities recalled her to Casablanca on 9 November 1942.[1] She arrived there at 01:30 on 10 November 1942, moored next to thedestroyerLe Malin, and took on supplies.[1] She got back underway at 03:00 bound forDakar inSenegal, but during the day on 10 November French resistance to the Allied invasion ended, and she again was recalled.[1] She arrived at Casablanca at midnight.[1]
After the end of hostilities between French and Allied forces in French North Africa,Orphée joined theFree French Naval Forces. In mid-December 1942, she and the submarineAtalante began service astraining ships.[1]
Orphée later returned to combat duties. On 8 August 1943, she made an unsuccessful attempt to land an agent at San Stefano nearAnzio on the coast ofItaly.[1] Operating from the submarine base at Oran in November 1943, she landed five agents on the coast ofSpain atBarcelona on 20 November.[1] On 7 December 1943, she fired three torpedoes at the 348-ton Vichy FrenchtugFaron and sank her nearToulon, France, at43°02′N006°01′E / 43.033°N 6.017°E /43.033; 6.017 (Faron).[1] It was the first time during World War II that a French submarine sank a ship in theMediterranean Sea.[1] She visited Barcelona again on 28 December 1943, landing four agents and picking up one,[1] and her submarine division awarded her acitation of the order (French:citation à l'ordre) on 31 December 1943.[1]
On 25 January 1944,Orphée landed six agents at Barcelona and picked up three.[1] On 22 February 1944, she returned to Barcelona, where she landed seven more agents and picked up two.[1] On 1 March 1944, she landed four agents at Barcelona.[1] At 13:53 on 2 March 1944, she fired a torpedo at the Spanishsteamcargo shipSS Virgen de Montserrat near Barcelona.[1]
In September 1944, the Free French Naval Forces made plans to placeOrphée in special reserve.[1] In August 1945, when World War II came to an end with the cessation of hostilities between the Allies andJapan, she still was part of the Oran Submarine Group.[1]
On 16 October 1945,Orphée collided with the Spanishfishing trawlerJosé Carmen.[1] At 11:20 on 3 March 1946 she suffered an explosion while docked at Casablanca that killed two men and injured nine.[1] The explosion was attributed to poor ventilation of herbatteries.[1] In April 1946, a request was made for recognition of members ofOrphée′s crew who particularly distinguished themselves in responding to the accident.[1]
Orphée was condemned on 26 March 1946[1] and disarmed in April 1946.[2]
Croix de Guerre 1939–1945, awarded 23 August 1946{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link).Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in October 1945 | |
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