The Amphitrite class consisted of eight submarines built for the French Navy just before World War I and completed during the war. The diesel engines of these boats were very unreliable and partially accounted for their lengthy building times. Two of the submarines, and , were converted into minelayers before completion.Roberts, pp. 449–451
Design and description The Amphitrite class was built as part of the French Navy's 1909 building program,Smigielski, p. 211 intended as improved versions of the . The boats displaced surfaced and submerged. They had a length between perpendiculars of , a beam of , and a draft of . The minelayers were slightly wider with a beam of which increased their displacement to on the surface and . The crew of all the Amphitrites numbered 27 officers and crewmen.
For surface running, the Amphitrite-class boats were powered by a pair of two-cycle diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. The engines were provided by three different manufacturers and were intended to produce a total of , but were generally only capable of . During 's sea trials on 16 November 1915, her six-cylinder Chaléassière engines only produced , enough for a speed of rather than the designed . After a lengthy rebuild, the engines produced at 90% power during another set of trials on 15 June 1917 and gave Amphitrite a speed of . The MAN-Loire engines were equally troublesome, but the Schneider engines were generally regarded as the most reliable ones. The boats were generally capable of on the surface in service. When submerged each shaft was driven by a electric motor. The designed speed underwater was . The Amphitrites had a maximum fuel capacity of of kerosene which gave them a surface endurance of at . Their designed submerged endurance was at .
The Amphitrite-class boats were armed with a total of eight torpedoes. Two of these were positioned in the bow in external tubes angled outwards 4° 25'. The other six were located in external rotating Drzewiecki drop collars, three on each broadside that could traverse 100 degrees to the side of the boats. The boats were also equipped with a Mle 1885-1915 gun aft of the conning tower. The minelayers replaced the drop collars with 10 vertical mine tubes, each holding one mine, but retained the bow torpedo tubes, albeit with a greater outward angle.Garier 2000, p. 56
Ships Name BuilderLaunchedCompleted Fate (Q94)Arsenal de Rochefort 9 June 19146 February 1918 stricken, 24 July 1935 (Q95) Arsenal de Rochefort 6 December 1915 11 June 1918 stricken, 9 November 1928 (Q96)Arsenal de Toulon 14 October 19148 May 1916 stricken, 5 May 1927 (Q97) Arsenal de Toulon 20 April 1916 10 July 1916 stricken, 8 March 1927 (Q98)Arsenal de Toulon 15 April 1915 22 December 1915 stricken, 9 June 133 (Q99) Arsenal de Toulon 11 November 1915 14 January 1918 stricken, 3 February 1925 (Q100)Arsenal de Cherbourg 5 September 191420 April 1916 sunk, 19 June 1917 (Q101) Arsenal de Cherbourg 13 February 1915 22 June 1916 stricken, 25 October 1926
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