Qualla: French Submarine Vengeur

French Submarine Vengeur: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The torpedoes missed. All four of them, fired from 2,300 meters at the Free French aviso Savorgnan de Brazza in the Gulf of Tadjoura on 28 July 1941. For Vengeur's crew, that was probably a mercy. They had been ordered to sink a ship crewed by Frenchmen - a reprisal for the Battle of Gabon the previous year - and sixty days at sea from Madagascar had not made the order any easier. The submarine moored at Djibouti that afternoon, unloaded 8.7 tonnes of supplies, drove off a British reconnaissance plane with anti-aircraft fire, and turned around to go home. Fifteen months later she was scuttled by her own crew. That is the compressed story of what happened to France, to Djibouti, and to a generation of French sailors during World War II.

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French Submarine Vengeur: A 1,500-Tonner from Cherbourg

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Vengeur - Avenger - belonged to a series of 31 deep-sea patrol submarines the French Navy called 'les 1,500-tonnes,' named for their surface displacement. All entered service between 1931 and 1939. The Redoutable-class boats were 92.3 meters long, 8.1 meters in beam, and could di...

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French Submarine Vengeur: When France Fell

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Battle of France ended with armistices signed with Germany on 22 June 1940 and Italy on 24 June, both effective 25 June. Overnight, Vengeur and her sister ships became naval assets of Vichy France. She was assigned to the 7th Submarine Division, based at Toulon. On 11 October...

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French Submarine Vengeur: The Missed Shots at Savorgnan de Brazza

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After passing Cape Guardafui on 26-27 July 1941 and entering the Gulf of Aden, Vengeur sighted the Free French Naval Forces aviso Savorgnan de Brazza at the head of the Gulf of Tadjoura on the morning of 28 July. Her orders were explicit: attack in retaliation for Savorgnan de Br...

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French Submarine Vengeur: The Djibouti Supply Runs

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Vengeur's mission to Djibouti was not a one-time delivery. Vichy French Somaliland was blockaded by the British from 1940 to late 1942, its supplies cut off from metropolitan France. Submarines became lifelines. On the first voyage, Vengeur covered 4,400 nautical miles round-trip...

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French Submarine Vengeur: Scuttled at Toulon

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

They reached Toulon on 13 May 1942 and were disarmed, defueled, and placed under guard on 1 June 1942 per armistice terms. On 27 November 1942, after Allied landings in North Africa, Germany and Italy occupied the Free Zone of Vichy France. To prevent the French fleet from fallin...

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