£10.00 - £20.00
An original envelope cover sent by a crew member from the Minerve-class submarine 'Iris' (Q188) which was part of the French Navy, commissioned in 1936. It is dated as 3rd January 1943 and backstamped 5th January from Barcelona, where the Iris had been interned after the scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon on 27th November 1942 which was orchestrated by Vichy France to prevent Nazi German forces from seizing their overseas fleet.
Under the terms of the 1907 Hague Convention, a warship can stay in a neutral port for a maximum of 48 hours or be interned. The crew chose to be interned and were held at the prison camp at Miranda de Ebro for six months before being returned to France, while a Spanish crew under the supervision of Degé and Enseigne de vaisseau Robert Lagane maintained the submarine.
In January 1943, to prevent any escape attempts, the propellers were removed, and by late February, Iris was towed to Cartagena.
Iris eventually returned to France on 29th November 1945 and remained in service until being decommissioned on 1st February 1950.
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