Casabianca (Q183)
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| History | |
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  France
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| Name: | Casabianca |
| Namesake: | Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca |
| Ordered: | 1 June 1925 |
| Laid down: | 7 March 1931 |
| Launched: | 2 February 1935 |
| Commissioned: | 1 January 1937 |
| Struck: | 12 February 1952 |
| Homeport: | Toulon |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1956 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Redoutable-class submarine |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 92.30 m (302.8 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Range: |
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| Test depth: | 80 meters |
| Complement: |
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Casabianca (Q183) was a Redoutable-class submarine of the French Navy. The class is also known as the "1500-ton class" and were termed in French de grande patrouille. She was named after Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca. Launched in 1935, she entered service in 1936. She escaped from Toulon during the scuttling of the fleet there on 27 November 1942, and continued in service with the Allied forces. Casabianca, commanded by Capitaine de frégate Jean l'Herminier, had a role in the liberation of Corsica, and was an important link between occupied France and the Free French government based in Algiers.
Casabianca was one of only five of the 31 Redoutable-class submarines to survive the Second World War.
It was initially planned to name the submarine Casablanca. Navy Minister François Piétri, who was Corsican, instead pressed for a navy vessel to be named in honour of Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca, a naval officer from Corsica who had served in the French Revolutionary Wars. The Casablanca was therefore renamed Casabianca prior to being launched.
In December 1939 Casabianca escorted Convoy HX 11.
Casabianca was in port at Toulon in November 1942 when the Germans enacted Case Anton, the annexation of the area of France previously controlled by the Vichy government. On 27 November 1942 German forces attempted to take over the fleet at Toulon, leading its commanders to order the ships to be scuttled to keep them out of German hands. Capitaine de corvette Jean L'Herminier, commander of Casabianca, instead took his submarine out to sea and escaped to Algiers to join the Allies. The submarine was attacked by German aircraft during the voyage, and was shadowed by a Royal Navy destroyer. Five other French submarines escaped from Toulon, two of which, Le Glorieux and Marsouin, served like Casabianca with the allies.
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