French submarine Minerve (S647)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Minerve.
Minerve in Bergen (Norway) in 1962
History
France
NameMinerve
NamesakeMinerva
BuilderChantiers Dubigeon, Nantes
Laid downMay 1958
Launched31 May 1961
Commissioned10 June 1964
HomeportToulon
IdentificationS647
FateLost with a crew of 52 on 27 January 1968 in the Gulf of Lion; wreckage discovered on 21 July 2019
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeDaphné-class submarine
Displacement
  • 860 tonnes (846 long tons) surfaced
  • 1,038 tonnes (1,022 long tons) submerged
Length57.75 m (189 ft 6 in)
Beam6.74 m (22 ft 1 in)
Depth5.25 m (17 ft 3 in)
Propulsion
  • 2 × 450 kW (603 hp) SEMT Pielstick-Jeumont-Schneider Type 12 diesel engines
  • 2 × 1,000 hp (746 kW) electric motors
  • 2 shafts
Speed
  • 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) surfaced
  • 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) snorkeling
  • 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) submerged
Range10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) surfaced
Endurance30 days
Test depth300 m (980 ft)
Complement
  • 6 officers
  • 24 non-commissioned officers
  • 20 sailors
Sensors and
processing systems
  • DRUA 31 radar
  • DUUA 2B sonar
  • DSUV 2 passive sonar
  • DUUX acoustic telemeter
Electronic warfare
& decoys		ARUR 10B radar detector
Armament
  • 12 × 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes (8 bow, 4 stern)
  • 12 × torpedoes or missiles

Minerve was a diesel–electric submarine in the French Navy, launched in 1961. The vessel was one of 11 of the Daphné class. In January 1968, Minerve was lost with all hands in bad weather while returning to her home port of Toulon.

Minerve sank two days after the submarine INS Dakar of the Israeli Navy disappeared in the eastern Mediterranean between Crete and Cyprus. Minerve was one of four submarines lost to unknown causes in 1968 along with the Soviet submarine K-129, the American USS Scorpion, and Israeli submarine INS Dakar. After more than 50 years missing, the location of the wreck was discovered in 2019, 45 kilometres (24 nmi; 28 mi) south of Toulon.[2]

  1. ^ Roche, Jean-Michel (2012). "Sous-marin Minerve : Caractéristiques principales". netmarine.net (in French). Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  2. ^ "French Minerve submarine is found after disappearing in 1968". BBC News. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.