French submarine Bévéziers (Q179)

L'Ajax, identical to Le Bévéziers
History
France
Namesake:	Battle of Bévéziers
Laid down:	April 4, 1932
Launched:	October 14, 1935
Commissioned:	June 4, 1937
Struck:	1946, following reserve refitting by the Allies in 1943
Homeport:	Toulon
Fate:	sunk May 5, 1942
General characteristics
Class and type:	1500 tons-class submarine
Displacement:	1,384 long tons (1,406 t) standard 1,570 long tons (1,595 t) normal 2,084 long tons (2,117 t) submerged
Length:	92.30 m (302 ft 10 in) oa 92.00 m (301 ft 10 in) pp
Beam:	8.20 m (26 ft 11 in)
Draught:	4.70 m (15 ft 5 in)
Propulsion:	2 diesels, 8,000 shp (6,000 kW) total, 2 electric motors 2,000 shp (1,500 kW)
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)(surfaced) 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Range:	10,000 nmi (18,500 km; 11,500 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) 4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph) 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) at 5 kn (9 km/h; 6 mph) submerged
Complement:	61
Armament:	4 × fixed 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes in bow, 5 × 550 mm (21.7 in) and 2 × 400 mm (15.7 in) torpedo tubes on external mounts 1 × 100 mm gun 1 × 13.2 mm machine gun

Le Bévéziers (Q179) (French: ) was a 1500 tons-class submarine of the French navy named in honour of the Bataille de Bévéziers (Battle of Beachy Head) of 1690.

Le Bévéziers was part of a series of a homogeneous 31 sous-marins océaniques de grande patrouille, designated as 1500 tons in reason of their displacement. All entered into service between 1931 (Le Redoutable) and 1939 (Le Sidi-Ferruch).

Long of 92,3 meters and large of 8.10, they had a draft of 4.4 meters and could dive up to 80 meters. They navigated on surface 1572 tons and in depth with 2082 tons. Propelled on surface by two diesel motors of a total of 6000 horsepower, their maximum speed was 18.6 knots. While diving, the electrical propulsion of 2250 horsepower allowed to reach 10 knots. Designated as « sous-marins de grandes croisières », their action radius on surface was of 10000 nautical miles at 10 knots and 100 nautical miles at 5 knots while in a dive.

Mis en chantier on April 4, 1932, Le Bévéziers was launched on October 14, 1935 and admitted into service on June 4, 1937.

The submarine was assigned, at the beginning of the Second World War, to the 8th Submarine Division, based in Brest, which was formed with L'Agosta (French: ), L'Ouessant (French: ), and Le Sidi Ferruch (French: ).

At the declaration of war on September 3, 1939, the boat was sent to patrol at the large of the ports on the northern Spanish coasts, where a part of the German commercial fleet took refuge, suspected of serving as supplies to the German U-boats. At the beginning of October, the boat was sent with the 8th Division to the Antilles. The submarine then escorted two convoys, convoy HX 29 (French: ) and convoy HX 33 (French: ) since Halifax until Liverpool and made way back to Brest on April 20, 1940. Following a periodic series of revision, the boat was sent to Casablanca and was found around the commencement of a vigorous armistice (French: ) on June 20, 1940. The submarine then patrolled in the Gulf of Guinea and returned back to Dakar on August 21, 1940.

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Wikipedia