In the early development of submarine tactics disasters were not infrequent. On June 8, 1912, just a few days before the two month anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the French submarine Vendémiaire (Q-59) was rammed and sunk off Cap de la Hague, France. The exercise involved submarines conducting a mock attack against the French Fleet off the Cape. The fleet, led by the battleship Saint Louis, was to sail through the channel between Alderney Island and the cape and were told to expect an attack.

Not knowing the exact details of the exercise I would hesitate to give a complete description of the action, but it would be safe to say that the submariners were learning how to attack fast moving warships, and the surface ships were learning how to defend themselves against submarine attack. At that time the battleship was the ruler of the seas and almost all exercises were designed around either protecting or destroying the battleship.

In this case Vendémiaire was waiting with another Pluviôse class boat, Messidor (Q-56), waiting to launch an attack against the battle squadron. As the column of ships moved through the channel, for unknown reasons, the 398 ton Vendémiaire came to periscope depth directly in front of the 12,000 ton battleship Saint Louis, with no time to take evasive action the battleship ran down the tiny submarine.

While all haste was made to move men and equipment to the scene in an attempt to rescue the twenty-five men in the Vendémiaire, the depth of the water, the rapid currents in the channel, and the fact that the submarine sank in seconds all added up to a grim reality, there were no survivors.

Word of the loss spread quickly and soon messages of condolence from around the world were being received in France. And in France questions about the loss awaited answers, sadly answers were few. The inquire found the captain of the Saint Louis blameless for the collision, and did not make a statement about the actions of the submarines captain. The boat was too deep to recover and it was decided to abandon the Vendémiaire