French submarine Créole (Q193)

For other ships of the same name, see French ship Créole.

Model of Africaine, sister ship of Créole.
History
France
Name	Créole
Namesake	"Creol"
Builder	Le Havre
Laid down	1937
Launched	8 June 1940
Commissioned	1 April 1949
Fate	Scrapped 1963
General characteristics
Class and type	Aurore-class submarine
Displacement	900 tonnes (890 long tons) surfaced 1,170 tonnes (1,150 long tons) submerged
Length	73.5 m (241 ft 2 in)
Beam	6.5 m (21 ft 4 in)
Draught	4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
Propulsion	Diesel: 2,200 kW (3,000 shp) 1,000 kW (1,400 shp) electrical
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) submerged
Range	5,600 nmi (10,400 km; 6,400 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) 2,250 nmi (4,170 km; 2,590 mi) at 15 knots 80 nmi (150 km; 92 mi) submerged at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)
Test depth	100 m (330 ft)
Armament	1 × 100 mm deck gun 2 × 13.2 mm machine guns 9 × 550 mm torpedo tubes

Créole (Q193) was an Aurore-class submarine of the French Navy.

Construction and career

Créole was launched on 8 June 1940 at Le Havre, France. To avoid capture by German ground forces advancing on le Havre during the Battle of France, Créole, still unfinished, was towed to La Pallice, and on 18 June 1940 was taken in tow from La Pallice to Swansea in South Wales. France surrendered to Germany and Italy on 22 June 1940, with hostilities ending on 25 June, and on 1 July 1940, the British took custody of Créole during Operation Catapult.

Créole was completed after the war and commissioned in the French Navy on 1 April 1949. Her silhouette departed from her pre-war design because of the installation of a snorkel and her completion with a sail instead of a conning tower.

Créole took part in the Suez Crisis in 1956, and sustained damage in a friendly fire incident when airplanes from the French aircraft carrier Arromanches attacked her by mistake. While she was surfacing on 28 March 1962 during a training cruise, she collided with the French packet boat Sidi Ferruch — which was transporting 800 French troops home from Algeria — off Toulon, France, severely damaging her sail. The dispatch boat Amiral Charner assisted her in reaching port.

Créole eventually was decommissioned, and she was broken up in 1963.

See also

• List of submarines of France

External links

• (in French) La Créole surnommé La Locomotive