Surcouf
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:06 pm
In July, 1962 St. Pierre and Miquelon issued a 500 F "Christmas" stamp depicting the famous French submarine Surcouf which in her day was the largest submarine in the world. France was one of the pioneers in submarine construction and in the Surcouf was concentrated the experience gained with many experimental types.
It can be said that the Surcouf herself was an experiment not likely to be repeated. She was practically a submersible cruiser, armed with two 8-in, guns as well as two 37 m.m. anti-aircraft and four machine guns. There were also ten 21 .7-in. tubes for the discharge of torpedoes, of which 22 were carried.
The torpedo armament consisted of two tubes in the bows, four revolving in pairs forward of the conning tower and four abaft it. The Surcouf was propelled on the surface by Sulzer oil engines of 7,600h.p giving a speed of 18 knots, although on trials she achieved 19 knots. Her submerged speed of 10 knots was derived from electric motors of 3,400 h.p. and she was built for a cruising radius of 12,000 miles at that speed.
Displacing 2,880 tons afloat and 4,304 tons submerged, she carried a crew of 150. Her trials included an endurance cruise of 5,000 miles from Cherbourg to Agadir, Dakar and Conakry in November 1932 and submergence for a period of 60 hours. One of her unusual features was that she carried a small seaplane for spotting purposes and she was the first submarine to be able to fire torpedoes from almost any angle.
Speaking on February 5, 1940 M. Campinchi, the French Minister of Marine said that the Surcouf was the only warship in the world capable of manoeuvring at a depth of 240 feet below the surface of the sea and which also carried a seaplane on board able to rise to over 9,000 feet. In June 1940 when France fell to the German forces, the Surcouf successfully escaped to England and became a unit of the Free French Navy; shortly afterwards she was sent to the U.S. Navy Yard at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
During December 1941 she participated in an expedition by Free French Naval forces against the island of St. Pierre and Miquelon. On the night of February 18, 1942 while proceeding towards the Panama Canal for duty in Pacific waters under the command of Comdr. Georges Blaison, the Surcouf was rammed and sunk by the U.S. cargo liner Thompson Lykes in a position about 80 miles North of Cristobal.
The Surcouf appears to have been named after Robert Surcouf (1773-1827), a French privateer who was born at St. Malo on December 12 and died there, a taciturn but prosperous boat builder. He preyed on English shipping in the Indian seas during the long war which followed the French Revolution and showed extraordinary skill and courage. His greatest exploits were the capture of the East India Company's ships Triton, of 800 tons, in 1785, and Kent in 1800, almost at the end of her voyage from England to Calcutta.
The stamp marks the 20th anniversary of the decision of St. Pierre and Miquelon to adhere to Free France in 1942.
SG420 Sea Breezes 1/63