NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Narval Many thanks to Wolfgang Stöhr for additional information on this page.

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Narval	Q004	Q2	Arsenal de Cherbourg	1898	21.10.1899	1900	stricken 11.1909

Technical data

Displacement standard, t
Displacement normal, t	117 / 202
Length, m	34.0
Breadth, m	3.80
Draught, m	1.80
No of shafts	1
Machinery	1 VTE, 1 Adolphe-Seigle tubular boiler / 1 electric motor
Power, h. p.	220 / 80
Max speed, kts	9.9 / 5.3
Fuel, t	oil
Endurance, nm(kts)	345(8.8) / 58(2.8)
Armament	4 - 450 TC
Complement	13
Diving depth operational, m	30

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

Designed by the famous naval constructor Maxime Laubeuf (1864-1939) as a result of an open competition between 29 designs sponsored by the Minister of Marine Lockroy in 1896 for a 200t boat with a 100nm surface range and a 10nm underwater radius. In essence Laubeuf designed an improved torpedo-boat - one which could submerge to make its attack or to avoid detection, but which could at other times be at least as seaworthy as an ordinary torpedo-boat. His other innovation was the provision of the TE engine, driven by steam from an oil-fired boiler for surface operation and for battery charging. Narval was the first double-hull French submersible boat: the strongly constructed inner cigar-shaped hull contained all the vital equipment and the thin-plated outer hull had the lines of a torpedo-boat.

Together with the ballast tanks, situated between the two hulls, this gave the ship a 42 per cent coefficient of buoyancy as compared to the 2-3 per cent of the pure submarine. This solution was not only revolutionary but epoch-making in that it led the way to making the submarine a proper warship. With her fixed conning tower, rising from the centre of the flat upper surface of the hull, and a periscope - the first submarine to be so fitted - the Narval appearance (apart from her funnel!) was the forerunner of all submarines which were to follow her. As much as 21 minutes was needed at first to cool down the boiler and to blow off steam before diving, though this was later reduced to 12 minutes. In all other aspects, her trials, which took place during 1900, proved a complete success.

Modernizations

None.

Naval service

No significant events.

Many thanks to Wolfgang Stöhr for additional information on this page.