The French submarine Diamant was a built for the French Navy in the mid-1930s. Laid down in July 1930, it was launched in May 1933 and commissioned in June 1934. Diamant was scuttled at Toulon on 27 November 1942 to prevent her capture by German forces, then refloated by Italian forces on 29 March 1943. On 22 June 1944, Diamant was bombed and sunk at Toulon by Allied aircraft.
Design long, with a beam of and a draught of , Saphir-class submarines could dive up to . The submarine had a surfaced displacement of and a submerged displacement of . Propulsion while surfaced was provided by two Normand-Vickers diesel motors and while submerged two electric motors. The submarines electrical propulsion allowed it to attain speeds of while submerged. Their surfaced range was at , and at , with a submerged range of at .
The Saphir-class submarines were constructed to be able to launch torpedoes and lay mines without surfacing. The moored contact mines they used contained of TNT and operated at up to of depth. They were attached to the submarine's exterior under a hydrodynamic protection and were jettisoned with compressed air. The Saphir-class submarines also featured an automatic depth regulator that automatically flooded ballast tanks after mines were dropped to prevent the risk of the submarine surfacing in the middle of enemy waters.
See also
List of submarines of France French submarines of World War II
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References