Name Pluviôse Builder Arsenal de Cherbourg Launched 27 May 1907 Beam 4.97 m | Namesake The month of Pluviôse Commissioned 10 May 1908 Length 51 m | |
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Fate Sunk in collision, 26 May 1910, raised and returned to service Class and type Pluviôse-class submarine | ||
French submarine Pluviôse (Q51) was a Laubeuf type submarine built for the French Navy prior to World War I. She was the name ship of her class.
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Design and construction
Pluviôse was ordered by the French Navy as part of its 1905 programme and was laid down at the Cherbourg Naval Yard in November of that year. She was launched on 27 May 1907 and commissioned 10 May 1908. Pluviôse 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. Pluviôse was named for a month of the French Revolutionary calendar.
Service history
On the afternoon of 26 May 1910 Pluviôse was cruising off Calais when she was involved in a collision with the packet boat Pas de Calais. Pluviôse sank with the loss of all hands, 27 men. The vessel was later raised and repaired, though she was not returned to front-line service, being disarmed and used for compression tests.
Her captain at the time of the accident Maurice Callot, was later honoured by having a submarine named after him.
Pluviôse was stricken in 1919 and sold for scrap in 1925.