The Minerve: 50th anniversary of the disappearance of the submarine.

Posted on January 27, 2018 by bill

Le sous-marin français \"La Minerve\", en rade de Toulon (Var).

Jeudi 2 février 1968, à Toulon. Les opérations de sauvetage du sous-marin La Minerve sont suspendues. Cinq jours après la disparition du submersible, l’espoir de retrouver des survivants s’est évanoui. “Dès le début de l’opération de sauvetage, on n’y croyait pas trop de toute façon”, se rappelle Georges Kévorkian. A l’époque, ce jeune ingénieur de la Direction des constructions navales avait été chargé de mener les secours à partir du lundi 29 janvier, deux jours après la dernière communication enregistrée avec le sous-marin.

La Minerve et son équipage ne seront jamais retrouvés. Et cinquante ans après le drame, le mystère plane toujours. Comment le sous-marin a-t-il coulé ? Avarie ? Erreurs humaines ? Problèmes techniques ? Une conjonction des trois ? Les familles des victimes, qui commémorent le 50e anniversaire de la disparition à Toulon le 27 janvier 2018, attendent encore les réponses. Visée, l’armée n’a jamais levé les zones d’ombre qui entourent ce drame. Un silence suspect, selon certains.

Dernière plongée de \"La Minerve\", sous-marin français disparu le 27 janvier 1968.
Dernière plongée de “La Minerve”, sous-marin français disparu le 27 janvier 1968. (AGASM section Rubis / FRANCEINFO)

A 7h55, “La Minerve” plonge dans le silence

About bill

Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer. The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013. Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI. Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug 2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website. But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien. The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50. Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea. Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
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