SURCOUF a SUBMARINE or WHAT?
Surcouf was a French cruiser submarine ordered to be built in December 1927, launched on October 1929 and commissioned in May 1934. Surcouf – named after the French privateer ROBERT SURCOUF, was then the largest submarine ever built. Being 110 M long, until surpassed by the Japanese (who copied some of her features) I-400-class submarine in 1943. Her short wartime career was marked with controversy and conspiracy theories. She was classified as an “undersea cruiser” by sources of her time. When France surrendered in WW2 she was taken from the Vishy French by the British Navy. When being boarded by the Allies, a French officer shot dead a British sailor who was climbing on board, so he in turn was shot dead by a following British officer.
She weighed 3300tons had a speed of 18.5Kn (10 submerged) and was powered by 2 Sulzur diesels giving a total of 7,600Hp. Submerged, electric motors produced 2500Kw. She was fitted with 2 X 8in guns which were housed in a rotatable pressurized armored turret, also with 3 X 50mm AA guns fitted on the conning tower. The vessel was equipped with 14 x 22in and 8 x15in torpedoes A launch and a float plane were housed in a pressurized compartment rear of the conning tower. The periscope was also used for gun control. A capacity to hold 40 prisoners was also included.
She was plagued by mechanical problems, was difficult to dive and took two minutes to dive to 12 meters with a maximum dept of 90m.The boat rolled badly in rough seas, one of the reasons the elevating tower was discarded. She could remain at sea for 3 months with a range of 12.000 miles. The Royal navy did not like using her as she needed three times the crew of one of theirs, so most of the crew were French.
Surcouf vanished on the night of 18/19 February 1942, about 130 km (70 nmi) north of Cristóbal, Panama, while enroute to Tahiti via the Panama Canal, she may have had an accidental collision with the American freighter Thompson Lykes. An American report concluded the disappearance was due to, 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 sent to Panama described the incident.
The loss resulted in 130 deaths (including 4 Royal Navy personnel), under the command of Frigate Captain Georges Louis Nicolas Blaison. 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. It was not reported Surcouf was sunk as the result of a collision with the Thompson Lykes until January 1945.
The investigation of the French commission concluded the disappearance was the consequence of misunderstanding. A plane 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:
The witness report described a submarine smaller than SURCOUF ??
Alistair: various refs, photo Wikipedia.
