Surcouf disappeared during the night of 18/19 February 1942 in the
Caribbean Sea, possibly after colliding with the US freighter Thompson Lykes, although this is not definitely established. She was named after the French privateer and shipowner
Robert Surcouf. She was the largest submarine built until surpassed by the first Japanese
I-400 class aircraft carrier submarine in 1944.
Design
The
Washington Naval Treaty had placed strict limits on naval construction by the major naval powers in regard to displacements and artillery calibers of battleships and cruisers. However, no agreements were reached in respect of light ships such as frigates, destroyers or submarines. In addition, to ensure the country's protection and that of the empire, France mounted the construction of an important
submarine fleet (79 units in 1939). Surcouf was intended to be the first of a class of three submarine cruisers; however, she was the only one completed.
In collaboration with French naval squadrons, search for and destroy enemy fleets;
Pursue enemy convoys.
Surcouf had a twin-gun turret with 203 mm (8-inch) guns, the same calibre as the guns of a
heavy cruiser, provisioned with 60 rounds. She was designed as an "underwater heavy cruiser", intended to seek out and engage in surface combat.[2] The boat carried a
Besson MB.411 observation
floatplane in a hangar built aft of the
conning tower for reconnaissance and
observing fall of shot.
The boat was equipped with ten
torpedo tubes: four 550 mm (22 in) tubes in the bow, and two swiveling external launchers in the aft superstructure, each with one 550mm and two 400 mm (16 in)
torpedo tubes. Eight 550mm and four 400mm reloads were carried.[3] The
203mm/50 Modèle 1924 guns were in a pressure-tight turret forward of the conning tower. The guns had a 60-round magazine capacity and were controlled by a
director with a 5 m (16 ft) rangefinder, mounted high enough to view an 11
km (5.9
nmi; 6.8
mi) horizon, and able to fire within three minutes after surfacing.[4] Using the boat's periscopes to direct the fire of the main guns, Surcouf could increase the visible range to 16 km (8.6 nmi; 9.9 mi); originally an elevating platform was supposed to lift lookouts 15 m (49 ft) high, but this design was abandoned quickly due to the effect of
roll.[5]
The Besson observation plane could be used to direct fire out to the guns' 26 mi (23 nmi; 42 km) maximum range. Anti-aircraft cannon and machine guns were mounted on the top of the hangar.
Surcouf also carried a 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) motorboat, and contained a cargo compartment with fittings to restrain 40 prisoners or lodge 40 passengers. The submarine's fuel tanks were very large; enough fuel for a 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) range and supplies for 90-day patrols could be carried.
The test depth was 80 m (260 ft).
The first commanding officer was
Frigate Captain (Capitaine de Frégate, a rank equivalent to
Commander) Raymond de Belot.
The boat encountered several technical challenges, owing to the 203mm guns.[citation needed]
Because of the low height of the rangefinder above the water surface, the practical range of fire was 12,000 m (13,000 yd) with the rangefinder, increased to 16,000 m (17,000 yd) with sighting aided by periscope, well below the guns' maximum range of 26,000 m (28,000 yd).
The duration between the surface order and the first firing round was 3 minutes and 35 seconds. This duration would be longer if the boat was to fire
broadside, which meant surfacing and
training the turret in the desired direction.
Firing had to occur at a precise moment of pitch and roll when the ship was level.
Training the turret to either side was impossible when the ship rolled 8° or more.
Surcouf could not fire accurately at night, as fall of shot could not be observed in the dark.
The guns' ready
magazines had to be reloaded after firing 14 rounds from each gun.
To replace the floatplane, whose functioning was initially constrained and limited in use, trials were conducted with an
autogyro in 1938.
Appearance of Surcouf
Surcouf was never painted in olive green as shown on numerous models and drawings.[citation needed] From the beginning of the boat's career until 1932, the boat was painted the same grey colour as surface warships, but thereafter in Prussian dark blue, a colour which was retained until the end of 1940 when it was repainted with two tones of grey, serving as camouflage on the hull and conning tower.
1938 configuration: radio mast removed and different conning tower
1940 configuration, with two-tone gray paint and 17P identification number on the conning tower
Career
Early career
Soon after Surcouf was launched, the
London Naval Treaty finally placed restrictions on submarine designs. Among other things, each signatory (France included) was permitted to possess no more than three large submarines, each not exceeding 2,800 long tons (2,845 t) standard displacement, with guns not exceeding 6.1 in (150 mm) in caliber. Surcouf, which would have exceeded these limits, was specially exempt from the rules at the insistence of Navy Minister
Georges Leygues,[4] but other 'big-gun' submarines of this boat's class could no longer be built.
In 1940, Surcouf was based in
Cherbourg, but in May, when the Germans invaded, she was being refitted in
Brest following a mission in the
Antilles and
Gulf of Guinea. Under command of Frigate Captain Martin, unable to dive and with only one engine functioning and a jammed rudder, she limped across the
English Channel and sought refuge in
Plymouth.
On 3 July, the British, concerned that the French Fleet would be taken over by the German Kriegsmarine at the French armistice, executed
Operation Catapult. The
Royal Navy blockaded the harbours where French warships were anchored, and delivered an ultimatum: rejoin the fight against Germany, be put out of reach of the Germans, or scuttle. Few accepted willingly; the North African fleet at
Mers-el-Kebir and the
ships based at Dakar (French West Africa) refused. The French battleships in North Africa were eventually attacked and all but one sunk at their moorings by the
Mediterranean Fleet.
French ships lying at ports in Britain and Canada were also boarded by armed marines, sailors and soldiers, but the only serious incident took place at
Plymouth aboard Surcouf on 3 July, when two Royal Navy submarine officers,
Commander Denis 'Lofty' Sprague, captain of
HMS Thames, and
Lieutenant Patrick Griffiths of
HMS Rorqual,[6][7] and French warrant officer mechanic Yves Daniel[8] were fatally wounded, and a British seaman, Albert Webb,[6] was shot dead by the submarine's doctor.[9]
Free French Naval Forces
By August 1940, the British completed Surcouf's refit and turned her over to the
Free French Naval Forces (Forces Navales Françaises Libres, FNFL) for convoy patrol. The only officer not repatriated from the original crew, Frigate Captain Georges Louis Blaison, became the new commanding officer. Because of Anglo-French tensions with regard to the submarine, accusations were made by each side that the other was spying for
Vichy France; the British also claimed Surcouf was attacking British ships. Later, a British officer and two sailors were put aboard for "liaison" purposes. One real drawback was she required a crew of 110–130 men, which represented three crews of more conventional submarines. This led to Royal Navy reluctance to recommission her.
Surcouf then went to the Canadian base at
Halifax,
Nova Scotia and escorted trans-Atlantic convoys. In April 1941, she was damaged by a German plane at Devonport.[8]
After leaving the shipyard, Surcouf went to
New London, Connecticut, perhaps to receive additional training for her crew. Surcouf left New London on 27 November to return to Halifax.
In December 1941, Surcouf carried the Free French Admiral
Émile Muselier to Canada, putting into
Quebec City. While the Admiral was in
Ottawa, conferring with the Canadian government, Surcouf's captain was approached by The New York Times reporter
Ira Wolfert and questioned about the rumours the submarine would liberate
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon for Free France. Wolfert accompanied the submarine to Halifax, where, on 20 December, they joined Free French
"Escorteurs"corvettesMimosa,
Aconit, and
Alysse, and on 24 December,
took control of the islands for Free France without resistance.
United States Secretary of StateCordell Hull had just concluded an agreement with the Vichy government guaranteeing the neutrality of French possessions in the Western hemisphere, and he threatened to resign unless President of the United States
Franklin D. Roosevelt demanded a restoration of the status quo. Roosevelt did so, but when
Charles de Gaulle refused, Roosevelt dropped the matter. Ira Wolfert's stories – very favourable to the Free French (and bearing no sign of kidnapping or other duress) – helped swing American popular opinion away from Vichy. The Axis Powers'
declaration of war on the United States in December 1941 negated the agreement, but the U.S. did not sever diplomatic ties with the Vichy Government until November 1942.
Later operations
In January 1942, the Free French leadership decided to send Surcouf to the
Pacific theatre, after she had been re-supplied at the
Royal Naval Dockyard in
Bermuda. However, her movement south triggered rumours that Surcouf was going to liberate
Martinique from the Vichy regime.
In fact, Surcouf was bound for
Sydney, Australia, via Tahiti.[4] She departed Halifax on 2 February for Bermuda, which she left on 12 February, bound for the
Panama Canal.[8]
Fate
Surcouf vanished on the night of 18/19 February 1942, about 130 km (70 nmi) north of
Cristóbal, Panama, while en route for
Tahiti, via the
Panama Canal. An American report concluded the disappearance was due to an accidental collision with the American freighter
Thompson Lykes. Steaming alone from
Guantanamo Bay on what was a very dark night, the freighter reported hitting and running down a partially submerged object which scraped along her side and keel. Her lookouts heard people in the water but, thinking she had hit a U-boat, the freighter did not stop although cries for help were heard in English. A signal was sent to Panama describing the incident.[10][11]
The loss resulted in 130 deaths (including 4 Royal Navy personnel), under the command of Frigate Captain Georges Louis Nicolas Blaison.[12] The loss of Surcouf was announced by the Free French Headquarters in London on 18 April 1942, and was reported in The New York Times the next day.[13] It was not reported Surcouf was sunk as the result of a collision with the Thompson Lykes until January 1945.[14]
The investigation of the French commission concluded the disappearance was the consequence of misunderstanding. A
Consolidated PBY, patrolling the same waters on the night of 18/19 February, could have attacked Surcouf believing her to be German or Japanese. This theory could have been backed by several elements:[citation needed]
The witness testimonies of cargo ship SS Thompson Lykes, which accidentally collided with a submarine, described a submarine smaller than Surcouf
The damage to the Thompson Lykes was too light for a collision with Surcouf
The position of Surcouf did not correspond to any position of German submarines at that moment
The Germans did not register any submarine loss in that sector during the war.
Inquiries into the incident were haphazard and late, while a later French inquiry supported the idea that the sinking had been due to "friendly fire"; this conclusion was supported by Rear Admiral
Auphan in his book The French Navy in World War II.[15] Charles de Gaulle stated in his memoirs[16] that Surcouf "had sunk with all hands".
Possible site of the Surcouf's sinking, if she collided with the Thompson Lykes.
As no one has officially dived or verified the wreck of Surcouf, her location is unknown. If one assumes the Thompson Lykes incident was indeed the event of Surcouf's sinking, then the wreck would lie 3,000 m (9,800 ft) deep at 10°40′N79°32′W / 10.667°N 79.533°W / 10.667; -79.533.[4]
A monument commemorates the loss in the port of
Cherbourg in Normandy, France.[17] The loss is also commemorated by the Free French Memorial on
Lyle Hill in Greenock, Scotland.[18]
As there is no conclusive confirmation that Thompson Lykes collided with Surcouf, and her wreck has yet to be discovered, there are alternative stories of her fate.
James Rusbridger examined some of these theories in his book Who Sank Surcouf?, finding them all easily dismissed except one: the records of the
6th Heavy Bomber Group operating out of Panama show them sinking a large submarine the morning of 19 February. Since no German submarine was lost in the area on that date, she could have been Surcouf. He suggested the collision had damaged Surcouf's radio and the stricken boat limped towards Panama hoping for the best.[19]
A conspiracy theory, based on no significant evidence, held that the Surcouf, during her stationing at New London in late 1941, had been caught treacherously supplying a German U-boat in Long Island Sound, pursued by the American training subs Marlin and Mackerel out of New London, and sunk. The rumor circulated into the early 21st century, but is false since the Surcouf's later movements south are well documented.[20]
In Popular Media
The Surcouf is the subject of an underwater search by the fictional organization NUMA and international terrorists in the
Clive Cussler novel, "The Corsican Shadow", published in 2023. Cussler and his co-writer, Dirk Cussler, writes the Surcouf's wreck was discovered "...some eighty miles off the Panama coast." The sinking is even attributed to Surcouf's radio antenna being damaged in the collision with the Thompson Lykes, and then finished off by the reported attack of an A-17 bomber the next morning.
Honors
Médaille de la Résistance avec Rosette (
Resistance Medal with rosette) - 29 November 1946
Cited in Orders of Corps of the Army - 4 August 1945
^Brown, David; Till, Geoffrey (2004). The Road to Oran: Anglo-French Naval Relations, September 1939 – July 1940.
Routledge. p. 182.
ISBN0-7146-5461-2.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot; Till, Geoffrey (2001). History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931 – April 1942.
University of Illinois Press. p. 265.
ISBN0-252-06963-3.
^"War Memorials". Inverclyde Council. Archived from
the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2020. A la memoire du Capitaine de frigate Blaison, des officiers et de l'equipage du sous-marin Surcouf perdu dans l'Atlantique Fevrier 1942