Hi all

In 1964 the Portuguese Navy ordered from the French Shipyards DUBIGEON-NORMANDIE in Nantes, four submarines of "DAPHNÉ class. The delivery in the following order: the "S163 Albacora" in 1 of October of 1967, the "S164 Barracuda" in 4 of May of 1968, the "S165 Cachalote" in 25 of January of 1969 and the "S166 Delfim" in 1 of October of the same year. In 1975 the "CACHALOTE" would be sold to Pakistan.
After a lenghty active life and after very hard negotiations new submarines have been acquired and the Daphnée class started to be decommissioned in a progressive way. Albacora was decommissioned back in 2000, and Delfim the day after these pictures were taken.
An end of an era - and the beggining of other.

For the first time here in Portugal, Navy vessels instead of being scraped will turn into Museums, and in this particular case all three submarines will be saved. This is going to stay in Lisbon Naval Base, Barracuda will go to Cascais (also in the Lisbon area - but this will be accessible to all interested) and Delfim will go to a northern city Viana do Castelo.

Until these new Museums are open, here are some pictures of the result of a six year stop and cannibalised Daphnée.
Enjoy


Length: 57.80 m
Surface Displacement: 869 ton
Immersion Displacement: 1.042 ton
Propulsion:
Main engines: 2 Jeumont Schneider
Surface Speed: 13.5 kts
Immersed Speed: 16 kts
Maximum Diving Depth: 300m
Weapons: Torpedos "L3" and "E14", 12 torpedo tubes (8 stern, 4 bow)






Albacora S163 Walkaround Gallery

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Skipper

HI,

A nice way to celebrate the decommission of the Portuguese subs.

Thanks for sharing.