French submarine Messidor

French submarine Messidor
A postcard of sister ship Monge underway before 1915
Career (France)
Name:	Messidor
Namesake:	The first month of Summer in the French Republican Calendar
Builder:	Arsenal de Cherbourg
Laid down:	1906
Launched:	24 December 1908
Completed:	30 November 1909
Struck:	12 November 1919
Identification:	Pennant number: Q56
General characteristics (as built)
Class & type:	Pluviôse-class submarine
Displacement:	404 t (398 long tons) (surfaced) 553 t (544 long tons) (submerged)
Length:	51.12 m (167 ft 9 in) (o/a)
Beam:	4.96 m (16 ft 3 in)
Draft:	3.15 m (10 ft 4 in)
Installed power:	700 PS (510 kW; 690 bhp) (steam) 2 × Du Temple boilers 400 PS (290 kW; 390 bhp) (electric motors)
Propulsion:	2 × shafts; 2 × Triple-expansion steam engines 2 × electric motors
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) (surfaced) 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (submerged)
Range:	1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) (surfaced) 27 nmi (50 km; 31 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) (submerged)
Complement:	2 officers and 23 crewmen
Armament:	1 × 450 mm (17.7 in) bow torpedo tube 1 × twin 450 mm Drzewiecki drop collar 4 × external 450 mm torpedo launchers (2 × facing forward, 2 × aft)

Messidor was one of 18 Pluviôse-class submarines built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

Bibliography

• Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allen. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5. 
• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5. 
• Garier, Gérard (2002) (in French). A l'épreuve de la Grande Guerre. L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France. 3–2. Bourg-en-Bresse, France: Marines édition. ISBN 2-909675-81-5. 
• Garier, Gérard (1998) (in French). Des Émeraude (1905-1906) au Charles Brun (1908–1933). L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France. 2. Bourg-en-Bresse, France: Marines édition. ISBN 2-909675-34-3.