FRENCH SUBMARINE WITH 63 ON BOARD SINKS IN FAR EAST (6/17/39)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 6/17/39

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Ping.

[Boiling point]

They surrendered to the sea.

[Retired COB]

I was stationed at Cam Ranh Bay during all of 1970 and was not aware of this sinking. I didn't see anything in the article which indicated that it was ever found, but that might have happened years later.

You can get into serious trouble on our new/modern submarines. For all of you guys still riding the boats....be careful out there.

COB, USS Philadelphia, SSN690 1987,1988

[henkster]

It was very nice of the French to build nice facilities for us to use at Cam Ranh Bay. Kind of eerie to read about these things taking place in 1939, knowing what would happen there in the ensuing 30+ years.

As for the Phenix, I don’t recall ever reading about this event before. From what I do know about submarines, a boat built in 1927 would not have been considered “modern” in 1939. There was a lot of development in submarine technology during that period, particularly in terms of increasing battery life, developing diesel engines better suited for submarine use, improving structural integrity for deeper diving, and better buoyancy. An American boat of 1927 vintage would have been considered at least obsolescent in 1939 with the advent of our Gato class fleet boats.

I’d put our Gatos against the German Mark VII or IX any day. It was the torpedoes that were faulty.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I didn't see anything in the article which indicated that it was ever found, but that might have happened years later.

Don't think so.

1939 – Phenix

French submarine, vanished at sea on June 15, 1939, off Cam Ranh Bay in French Indochina with 71 men on board. Phenix submerged during an exercise with a French cruiser but did not return to the surface. After two days, the submarine was presumed lost. Oil slicks seen in the area of the sinking were attributed to the sunken submarine.

http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/2377#first

[CougarGA7]

71? How’d they get two more people on there?

I’m guessing if they reported oil slicks that it ran afowl of something. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to find it.

[meandog]

I’d put our Gatos against the German Mark VII or IX any day. It was the torpedoes that were faulty.

Especially USS Barb!

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Hey there, stranger! Glad to see you checking in.

71? How’d they get two more people on there?

Or even eight more (above the 63 in the headline).

I’m guessing if they reported oil slicks that it ran afowl of something.

That assumes the oil slick was from the Phenix and not from some entirely unrelated source.

[Harold Shea]

I remember Cam Ranh Bay very well,first day in country
hearing mortars popping from across the bay and a shell
hitting a latrine about 50` from where I was

Never heard that story about that French sub trajedy.

Cam Rahn was where the Japanese launched the Pearl attack
from I believe

[Retired COB]

I don't think that the Japs launched their carriers from Viet Nam, but I do remember visiting their old WWII bunkers on the beach. The way those things were built it almost seemed that it would take a direct hit from a nuke to break one up.

Sounds like you were Army. I was Navy at Market Time (where John Kerrey should have been if he hadn't fragged himself and got short toured) on the southern end of the peninsula.

[MinuteGal]

I yahooed the word Phenix (and Phoenix) plus any number of word combinations to find out the ultimate fate of the sub........the closure story, I suppose you could call it.

I'm sure no attempt was made to raise the submarine given the depth of the water and the state of rescue devices in 1939.

However, I couldn't locate one article on this tragedy. It appears the written history and memories of the the ill-fated vessel have vanished along with the sub and its crew. Too bad.

Leni

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Try the link I posted at reply #6. (It is not a live link so you have to copy and paste it to the address bar.) It is brief but it is the only one I could find.

[MinuteGal]

Thanks. I guess she lies at the bottom of the sea, forever undisturbed....but perhaps remembered by descendent relatives of the submariners entombed in the Phenix.

Leni

[Harold Shea]

You wouldn`t have any pictures of those bunkers?

They were on our side of the bay,I hope

Army,correct,left CRB for Quang Tri

[Retired COB]

I don't think I've got any pictures, but they were on our side of the bay. They did look like they'd been shot at a few times.

One of the things that surprised me about Cam Ranh Bay was how clean the ocean was there. I went to Hawaii on R&R to meet my wife, and the beaches in Viet Nam were prettier. (Hawaii didn't have the sea snakes, though.)