Casabianca (Q183) was a Redoutable-class submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

, named in honour of Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca

Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca

See Casabianca for other meaningsLuc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca was a French Navy officer.- Career :...

. She was notable for her escape from Toulon

Toulon

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

 in November 1942 as Germans forces tried to seize the French fleet as part of Case Anton

Case Anton

Operation Anton was the codename for the military occupation of Vichy France carried out by Germany and Italy in November 1942.- Background :...

, the occupation of Vichy France

Vichy France

Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...

. Following her escape the submarine and her crew fought on the side of the Allies.

Phony War, Vichy France and Escape from Toulon

During the Phony War

Phony War

The Phoney War was a phase early in World War II – in the months following Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany in September 1939 and preceding the Battle of France in May 1940 – that was marked by a lack of major military operations by the Western Allies against the German Reich...

, the Casabianca undertook uneventful cruises in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 and off Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. After the Fall of France and subsequent armistice

Armistice with France (Second Compiègne)

The Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed at 18:50 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, in the department of Oise, between Nazi Germany and France...

, she was disarmed in 1941.

Her new captain, Capitaine de Vaisseau Jean L'Herminier, managed to illegally restore the fighting potential of the submarine, and store 85 m³ of fuel aboard.

On the 27 November 1942, the SS stormed the harbour of Toulon to seize the French fleet, triggering the scuttling of the French fleet

Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon

The French fleet in Toulon was scuttled on 27 November 1942 on the order of the Admiralty of Vichy France to avoid capture by Nazi German forces during Operation Lila of the Case Anton takeover of Vichy France.- Context :...

. As other vessels were scuttled by their crews, the Casabianca managed to set sail and dive, under fire from German forces. She sailed south to Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

, where she surfaced in front of the screen of British patrol boats before signaling her status and intentions. Two other submarines, the Marsouin http://perso.orange.fr/sous-marin.france/Q119.htm and the Glorieux http://perso.orange.fr/sous-marin.france/Q168.htm, arrived in the next few days.

Missions for the secret services

From December 1942 to 1944, the Casabianca landed intelligence elements, radios, ammunitions and weapons in Corsica

Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

 and Provence

Provence

Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

 for the Maquis

Maquis (World War II)

The Maquis were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labour for Germany...

. Her elusiveness earned her the nickname of "Phantom Submarine" from German troops.

The British conservative MP Keith Monin Stainton

Keith Stainton

Keith Monin Stainton was a British Conservative politician and World War II hero in France.Keith Stainton was born in Kendal, Westmorland, the son of a Kendal butcher and a Belgian refugee he had met during the First World War. He left Kendal School at 14 and worked as an insurance clerk from...

 served as a liaison officer aboard the submarine in 1943, whilst a Royal Navy lieutenant.http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNVR_officersS.html

In her last mission, she landed a hundred men of the elite forces (achieving a record for a submarine of such a displacement in the process). The men were landed on an isolated beach at Arone near the village of Piana in the North West of Corsica. A monument exists there now.

End of the war

After the liberation of Corsica, the Casabianca was used for regular patrols. In 1944, she was hit in a friendly fire

Friendly fire

Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...

 accident by a British plane, and had to refit in Philadelphia until March 1945. The submarine was scrapped in 1956, but the conning tower survives — since 2004, it has been on display in Bastia

Bastia

Bastia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It is also the second-largest city in Corsica after Ajaccio and the capital of the department....

 near the harbour.http://jlvlino.free.fr/agaasm/casa060606.htm

The French Navy's Rubis class nuclear submarine Casabianca (S 603) was named after the submarine.

Achievements

During her career, the Casabianca achieved the following success :

• 1 warship sunk by torpedo
• 1 warship sunk by gun
• 1 merchantman hit by torpedo
• 7 secret missions
• Liberation of Corsica

Casabianca in popular culture

The submarine's exploits were used as the basis for the 1951 film Casabianca, starring Pierre Dudan and Jean Vilar.

The Casabianca also played a prominent role in the 2007 novel The Double Agents, book five of the Men At War series by W.E.B. Griffin. Specifically, the insertion of Allied agents into Sicily and subsequent sinking of a German E-Boat and cargo ship.