A fascinating story

This 78-m long submarine was built in Le Havre and launched in 1958 before taking up service in 1960. The Espadon (“swordfish” in French) was able to dive for up to 5 or 6 days. Its electric engines insured maximum speed of 16 knots on the surface and 18 knots under water.

During its 25 year long career, the Espadon spent 2,561 days on sea and 33,796 hours diving; it covered 360,547 nautical miles, i.e. the equivalent of 17 times the circumference of the earth ! The Espadon has been open to the public since 1987. It’s the only museum submarine in France which is afloat.