Naïade-class submarine

The Naïade-class submarines were a group of submarines built for the French Navy at the beginning of the 20th century. There were twenty vessels in this class, of the Romazotti type. They remained in service until just prior to the outbreak of the First World War.

Design and construction
The Naïades were designed by Gaston Romazotti, an early French submarine engineer and director of the Cherbourg Naval Dockyard. They were of a single-hull design, following most previous French submarine designs, but with dual propulsion, as pioneered by submarine designers Holland and Laubeuf. The hull was constructed of Roma-bronze, a copper alloy devised by Romazotti to resist corrosion and reduce interference with the boat's magnetic compass; it was also believed to offer more flexibility at depth. The underwater power was provided by an electric motor, while on the surface they used a Panhard et Levassor petrol engine, giving an improved performance on the surface.

Service history
The Naïades were ordered as part of the French Navy's 1900 building programme, and were constructed over the next five years at the naval dockyards at Toulon, Rochefort and Cherbourg. They remained in service until just prior to the outbreak of the First World War, but by then had been superseded by more modern designs and all were stricken by the summer of 1914.

Because of their size, the Naïades were known as Fritures ("chips"), though they were also called, less charitably, Les Noyades ("the drowning ones") by rival engineer Emile Bertin.

One vessel, Alose, is preserved as a museum piece at the headquarters of COMEX (the Compagnie Maritime d'Expertises) in Marseilles.

Assessment
The Naïades were smaller than Romazotti's previous Morse and Morse class submarines, smaller in fact than any French submarine to that date except the pioneering Gymnote (Q1). However the Naïades had an adequate armament (two torpedoes, carried externally) and a good performance, with a better range than Romazotti's previous boats or the contemporary Farfadet class, though not as good as Laubeuf's Narval and ''Sirène class.

The Naïades were expensive, due to their Roma-bronze construction; each unit cost Fr.365,000 (approx. £14,510) some three-fifths ($3/5$) of the Sirène class's unit cost of £24,700, despite being less than half the size by displacement.