Minerve (S647)

:"For the town in France, see Minerve, Hérault.""Minerve" was a French submarine, one of nine of the "Daphné" class. The relatively small submarine was an experimental missile-carrying submarine with a diesel engine. She had a maximum speed of 16 knots.

On 28 January 1968 at about 08:00 hrs, she was travelling just under the surface using her snorkel, roughly Convert|25|nmi|km from her base in Toulon, when she advised an accompanying airplane that she would be at her berth in about an hour; 52 crew, including six officers, were onboard. She was never heard from again. She was lost in waters between Convert|1000|m|ft and Convert|2000|m|ft deep.

Commander Philipe Bouillot recalled later telling "Minerve"'s new Skipper Lieutenant André Fauve, he had spent 7,000 hours submerged over the four years he had been in command of her and never had a problem. The only factor known that could have caused her to sink was the weather which was extremely bad at the time of her loss. The location of the wreck remains unknown.

"Minerve" was lost at about the same time as the INS" Dakar" (a few days apart), Convert|1000|mi|km away.

External links

* [http://www.netmarine.net/bat/smarins/minerve/index.htm Sous-marin "Minerve"]