French submarine Circé (1907)

Circé was the lead boat of a class of two submarines built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

Construction and career
On 29 April 1915, Circé made several attempts to penetrate the harbour of Cattaro. Finally she gained entrance, but found no targets and had to retire. On 31 March 1917 in the Adriatic Sea, she launched a torpedo towards the German submarine SMU UC-35, but missed.

On 24 May 1917, under command of Lieutenant Hélion De Cambourg, she succeeded in sinking the German submarine SMU UC-24. This was one of the few sinkings by a French submarine during World War I.

On 20 September 1918, Circé under command of Lt. Henri Viaud was on anti-submarine patrol in the Southern Adriatic Sea, off Cattaro, when she was torpedoed by the Austro-Hungarian Navy submarine SMU U-47 (Austria-Hungary) at 04:00, while recharging her batteries. Only one survivor, second-in-command Eugène Lapeyre, was picked up.