French submarine Circé (Q 47)

Circé was a submarine of the French Navy built in Toulon from 1904. She was part of the Circé-class submarine (1907).

History
Circé was one of two submarines of the Circé-class, built after the design by Maxime Laubeuf. Her sister ship was Calypso, which sank in July 1914 after a collision with Circé.

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, she launched a torpedo towards the German submarine SM UC-35, but missed.

On 24 May 1917, under command of Lt. Hélion De Cambourg, she succeeded in sinking the German submarine SM UC-24. This was one of the few kills (if not the only) 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 submarine UB-47 at 04:00, while recharging her batteries. Only one survivor, second-in-command Eugène Lapeyre, was picked up.

Reference

 * La Circé on sous-marin.france
 * Uboat.net
 * Wrecksite
 * Testimony of the only survivor Eugène Lapeyre