The French submarine Circé had an interesting history. Launched in Sept. of 1907 she had only one sister, Calypso, which was launched in October of the same year. They were 154' long and displaced 351 tons on the surface. They were powered by two diesels built by M.A.N. in Germany.

The two boats were training together off Saint Tropez when Calypso crossed the bows of Circé due to a jammed rudder, the collision sent Calypso to the bottom of the Mediterranean with the loss of three of her crew. During the Great War Circé sank a second submarine, this time an enemy boat, SMS UC-24, she torpedoed the German submarine not long after she sailed from Cattero (Kotor), Montenegro, only two of her crew survived.

But on September 20, 1918, with the war's end near, she herself became the victim of a submarine. The Austrian submarine U-47, formally the German UB-47, slammed a torpedo into her side, the sinking happened so fast that only the Second Officer, who was on the conning tower, survived. In a strange twist of fate, U-47 was surrendered to the French after the war.