French submarine La Sybille (1932)

La Sybille was one of nine s built for the French Navy during the 1930s. She was sunk by Allied forces during Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa in 1942.

Design and description
The Diane-class submarines were improved versions of the earlier. They displaced 651 LT surfaced and 807 LT submerged. The submarines were 64.4 m long, had a beam of 6.2 m and a draft of 4.3 m.

For surface running, the boats were powered by two 700 bhp diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 500 hp electric motor. They could reach 14 kn on the surface and 9 kn underwater. On the surface, the Dianes had a range of 4000 nmi at 10 kn; submerged, they had a range of 82 nmi at 5 kn.

The boats were armed with six 53.3 cm and a pair of 40 cm torpedo tubes. Three of the former were mounted in the bow internally, two were external amidships and one was external in the stern. The 40 cm tubes were aft and were also external; all of the external mounts could traverse. They carried a total of nine torpedoes. The Diane class were also armed with a single 3 cm deck gun.

Construction and career
The boat was launched on 28 January 1932. La Sybille was sunk by Allied forces off Casablanca on 8 November 1942.