After being taken and subsequently returned by the British in 1940
and completing several missions in the Atlantic, the French Surcouf submarine and its seasoned crew
were sent to Bermuda in January of 1942. However, the Allied forces soon lost contact with her.
The Surcouf was the largest submarine the Allied forces had at their disposal against the Axis,
and she wasn’t just a regular one, but an experimental cruiser model.
This colossus of the sea could carry a floatplane, two 8-inch guns, machine guns,
anti-aircraft guns, and 10 heavy torpedoes that were feared by anything that came in her path.
When Surcouf disappeared, both the Kriegsmarine and the Japanese Navy
admitted that they did not sink her, raising suspicions and igniting several theories as
to what may have happened to the most potent Allied submarine in the world…
Cruise Submarines The first submarines can be traced
back to the mid-19th century. During the American Civil War that ravaged the continental United
States between 1861 and 1865, both the Union and the Confederacy employed primitive submarines.
The first Union submarine, USS Alligator, was launched in 1862.
The Confederacy then followed with the launch of CSS David that same year. Their designs were
highly innovative for their time but provided little combat advantage, as they were just
over 40 feet long and could only carry eight men. Also, their armament consisted of spar torpedoes,
bombs placed at the end of a long stick to ram the projectile to the side of an enemy ship.
Although the use of the American submarines was limited during the conflict,
they set the foundation for what would become a highly lethal weapon for decades to come.
When World War 1 broke out in Europe, the most powerful armies possessed more developed
submarines. However, it was the Germans who made the most out of them, although the German High
Command did not exploit its small submarine fleet during the first years of the conflict.
The U-boats were mainly used as commerce raiders and failed to block the passage
used by the British Expeditionary Force to send troops and supplies to France. Still,
they took a heavy toll on the British economy. It was only until the Battle of Jutland at the
end of May 1916 that the Germans realized they could use the U-boats to attack the British fleet
and its feared dreadnaughts. The effects were devastating,
and the submarine immediately became a weapon of incredible capabilities.
The British, who were almost forced to sign a peace treaty with Germany
after all the ships their U-boats had sent to the bottom of the sea, knew this all too well.
In a 1916 article published in Seven Seas Magazine, a British naval observer wrote: (QUOTE)
"There is little doubt but that the expensive super-dreadnaughts will give place very shortly to
something evolving through submersible destroyers into submersible battle cruisers. Or submersibles
which follow the principle of the battlecruiser, which consists in sacrificing the weight of armor,
but not the caliber of guns to speed. It is hard to be disputed that the submersible battle
cruiser, low-lying, small, agile as compared with its antagonist, would have every advantage..."
The premonition of a ship of the future that would combine
the capabilities of a battleship and a submarine came true during the postwar.
The First Sea Lord of the British Navy, Admiral David Beatty, even admitted that
these submersible battle cruisers would relegate the battleships to second place.
Soon, the French caught up. They believed that if the small fleet of German U-boats armed with only
torpedoes and light guns had been able to inflict so much damage to Britain, underwater cruisers
with bigger guns would be five times more lethal. When World War 1 came to an end and Germany
surrendered its surviving U-boats, France immediately began experimenting with
new technology to develop its own future cruiser submarine.
The Colossus Surcouf The reasons for
developing a cruiser submarine were simple. A cruiser submarine would be able to patrol
large regions for an extended period of time. Then, thanks to her colossal size, she could
carry heavier guns, more torpedoes, and mines, increasing her overall damage and lethality.
And finally, with so much firepower, the cruiser would be able to not just escort
friendly vessels and attack or ambush any kind of ship, but also to conduct shore
bombardments with devastating effects and even carry troops for quick amphibious landings.
After thoroughly studying Germany's larger submarines used during the First World War,
the French engineers got to work on what would become the largest submarine ever assembled.
They then named her the Surcouf after the famed French privateer Robert Surcouf,
who rose to fame after waging a successful and brilliant economic
warfare against Britain during the Napoleonic era. The Frenchmen used their new cruiser submarine
to evade the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, which placed limits on naval construction.
The treaty established certain limitations on the overall weight of a ship and its artillery
calibers. However, the limits were only imposed on battleships and cruisers, not on submarines.
Surcouf was laid down in 1926 and was not finished until the 1930s. At the time of its completion,
Surcouf was indeed the world's largest submarine. The colossus could carry a crew of 120 men plus a
cargo compartment where 40 passengers or prisoners could be transferred.
She displaced over 3,400 horsepower while fully submerged, was over 350 feet long,
and had a beam of 29 feet. She was powered by two 3,800-horsepower Sulzer diesel engines
operating on the surface and two 1,700-horsepower electric motors for underwater propulsion, giving
her an approximate range of 10,000 nautical miles. Surcouf was also equipped with a twin-gun turret
of 8-inch guns with 600 rounds, the same caliber that heavy cruisers employed.
In addition, the submarine cruiser was equipped with ten torpedo tubes. Four were 22-inch tubes
located in the bow, and two were external launchers placed in the aft superstructure
with a capacity for one 550-millimeter and two 400-millimeter 16-inch torpedo tubes.
The six external torpedo tubes could only be used while on the surface,
and 16 spare torpedoes were carried. Last but not least, Surcouf was also
equipped with two 1.5-inch and four .52-inch anti-aircraft guns and a Besson MB.411 floatplane.
Surcouf went through dozens of modifications as the years passed
until the outbreak of World War 2, when her military career officially began.
Lost at Sea
The world's largest submarine was being refitted in Brest when the Germans attacked France in
May of 1940. Unable to dive, and with a malfunctioned engine and a jammed rudder,
Surcouf limped across the English channel to evade capture. The submarine then arrived at Plymouth
and waited for orders from the French government. While Surcouf was stationed in Plymouth,
the British launched Operation Catapult without French consent.
The objective of this operation was to force the French Navy to continue fighting the Germans,
send all their ships to the British coast, and scuttle their ships if
they refused to leave their harbors. Meanwhile, the ships already on English
coasts began to be violently boarded by armed Royal Marines, sailors, and soldiers.
Surcouf's crew refused to let the British take over their most potent submarine,
and a firefight broke out, with three British and one Frenchman losing their lives.
The French ultimately surrendered, and the British took over Surcouf.
However, she was returned a few months later and given to an entirely new crew under the
command of Frigate Captain Georges Blaison. Surcouf was used to escort convoys in the
Atlantic, and in July of 1941, she arrived at the US Navy shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for a refit.
By December, the submarine took Admiral Émile Muselier to Canada and supported
a French fleet that peacefully took control of the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
Then, in January of 1942, the French top-brass decided that Surcouf was ready for a riskier
mission and sent her to Sydney, Australia, on her own for an unknown assignment.
It would also be her last. Disappearance
Surcouf's route was heavily patrolled by Axis forces, but the submarine could easily repel them.
Then, on February 2, 1942, she departed en route to the Panama Canal
after resupplying at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda.
The crew was eager and motivated. They were going to the Pacific, and many wanted to see some action
against the Japanese. Unfortunately, none of their guns or torpedoes would ever be fired.
On the night of February 18, Surcouf vanished without leaving any trace.
The last contact with the crew was traced back to an area near Cristobal, Panama.
Several theories arose about the submarine’s whereabouts.
One theory suggested that Surcouf was accidentally ridden over by the American
freighter Thompson Lykes, which reported a collision with a partially submerged object.
Another suggested that the submarine was sunk by American B24 bombers from
the 6th Heavy Bomber Group, which reported sinking a giant submarine on February 19.
Meanwhile, many French Navy officials believed that Surcouf was sunk by a German U-boat wolfpack,
as the Kriegsmarine reported U-boat presence in the region when the war ended.
Ultimately, the official report from the French Navy stated that the submarine was
sunk by friendly fire, but many people and historians do not believe that version.
There was even speculation that the crew was swallowed by the Bermuda Triangle
and was sunk near an undiscovered island. To this day, the shipwreck has not been located...
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