The French 600 Series submarines were a series of submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 classes built for the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

 (Marine Nationale) during the Inter war years.

Development

The 600 Series were sea-going submarines, though designated as coastal-type submarines, built for service in the Mediterranean. They were built to conform to the interwar naval treaties arising from the 1922 Washington

Washington Naval Conference

The Washington Naval Conference also called the Washington Arms Conference, was a military conference called by President Warren G. Harding and held in Washington from 12 November 1921 to 6 February 1922. Conducted outside the auspices of the League of Nations, it was attended by nine nations...

 and 1930 London conferences

London Naval Conference

There were three major international naval conferences in London, the first in 1908-09, the second in 1930 and the third in 1935. The latter two, together with the Washington Naval Conference in 1921-22 and the Geneva Conferences , resulted in agreements between the major powers on navy vessel...

, which placed restrictions on the number and size of warships of various types that nations could build. The coastal submarine was limited to a 600 ton surface displacement, though there was no limit placed on the numbers of these vessels that could be built.
During this period France was involved in a rivalry with Italy in the Mediterranean, leading to a naval arms race. France took an early lead, but by .. Italian submarine building had overtaken her.

The French 600 series, and the later 630 series, was equivalent to the Italian 600 Series

Italian 600 Series submarines

The Italian 600 Series submarines were a series of submarine classes built for the Italian Royal Navy during the Inter war years.-Development:...

, the British S class

British S class submarine (1931)

The S-class submarines of the Royal Navy were originally designed and built during the modernisation of the submarine force in the early 1930s to meet the need for smaller boats to patrol the restricted waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea replacing the British H class submarines...

, and the German Type VII

German Type VII submarine

Type VII U-boats were the most common type of German World War II U-boat. The Type VII was based on earlier German submarine designs going back to the World War I Type UB III, designed through the Dutch dummy company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag which was set up by Germany after...

 U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

.

General characteristics

The 600’s had a surface displacement

Displacement (ship)

A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...

 just above 600 tons; the earliest vessels displaced 609 tons while the last built were 651 tons. They had an endurance of 3,500 to 4,000 miles at 7.5 to 10 knots, with a submerged speed of 7.5 to 9 knots. Their armament was six to seven torpedo tube

Torpedo tube

A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...

s (3 forward, 2 midships, and 1 or 2 aft) with an outfit of 9-13 torpedoes. As with all French submarines of this period, the midships torpedo tubes were fitted externally in trainable mounts. They had a single 3 inch/76mm to 3.9 inch/100mm gun, and one to two 8mm machine guns, and were manned by crews of 41 men.

Construction history

The first 600's were ordered in 1923. The French Navy was content to leave the design features for the boats to the builders, after laying down the specifications. Thus the 12 boats of the series were in three distinct classes, according to the design bureau and shipyard. The subsequent 630 Series were designed and built in the same way, resulting in 16 boats in a further three classes.

• Sirene class
  French Sirene class submarine
  The Sirène class submarines were a sub-class of the 600 Series built for the French Navy prior to World War II.There were four vessels in the class, built to a Loire-Simonot designThey were ordered in 1925 and completed by 1927....
  
  : a class of four submarines, built to a Loire-Simonot design. They were ordered in 1925 and completed in 1927.

• Ariane class: a class of four submarines, built to a Normand
  Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand
  Chantiers et Ateliers A. Normand is a French shipyard in Le Havre. They were notable for building small warships in the early part of the 20th century.They also developed the Normand boiler, an early design of three-drum water-tube boiler....
  
  -Fenaux design. They were ordered in 1923 and completed in 1929-30.

• Circe class
  French Circe class submarine
  The Circé class submarines were a sub-class of the 600 Series built for the French Navy prior to World War II. There were four vessels in the class, built to a Schneider-Laubeuf design...
  
  : a class of four submarines, built to a Schneider
  Schneider Electric
  Schneider Electric is a French global company. It was founded in 1836 by two brothers, Eugène and Adolphe Schneider.In the first part of the 20th century, Schneider et Cie associated itself with Westinghouse Systems, a major international electrical group at the time. The group began manufacturing...
  
  -Laubeuf
  Maxime Laubeuf
  Maxime Laubeuf was a French maritime engineer of the late nineteenth century. He was born on 23 November 1864 at Poissy, Yvelines, and died on 23 December 1939 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes....
  
   design. They were ordered in 1923 and completed in 1928-29.

• Orion class: a class of two submarines, built to a Loire-Simonot design. They were ordered in 1928 and completed in 1932.

• Diane class: a class of nine submarines, built to a Normand-Fenaux design. They were ordered in 1927 and completed in 1932-33.

• Argonaute class: a class of five submarines, built to a Schneider-Laubeuf design. They were ordered in 1927 and completed in 1932-35.

The 600/630 Series was succeeded by the Minerve

Minerve class submarine

The Minerve class submarines were a class of submarines built for the French Navy prior to World War II. The class was based on a French Admiralty design.-Submarines of the class:* Minerve, joined the Free French Navy...

 class, an Admiralty design based on the 630 specification, and which sought to increase standardization.

War service

The 600/630 Series submarines served with the Marine Nationale

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

 and with the Free French FNFL during World war II in a full range of front-line duties and missions. Of the 26 boats that served in World War II (two were lost in the pre-war period) 17 were lost.