Exhibition: All Aboard! The Adventure of the First Submarines

In Rochefort, the exhibition ‘To the Diving Station!’ forms part of the ‘Call of the Deep’ series and explores the early days of military submarines, covering innovations, trials and human tragedies.

The exhibition explores three main themes:

- Rochefort, the cradle of early submarine adventures: a major centre for shipbuilding in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Rochefort arsenal continued its operations into the 19th and 20th centuries, specialising in the construction of small vessels (submarines, torpedo boats and destroyers). One hundred years after the official announcement of its closure, the exhibition will revisit this fascinating aspect of French maritime history and pay tribute to its engineers and crews.

- The origins of military submarines: from the *Plongeur*, the first experimental submarine which marked, in 1863, the beginnings of the military submarine force in France, to the terrible shipwrecks of the Farfadet class at the turn of the 20th century, visitors will discover a history shaped by experimentation, failures, mistakes, trial and error, and repeated attempts to push innovation ever further.

- A journey through two centuries of innovation: presented in a chronological display, from the mid-19th century to the present day, nearly 60 items (archival material, technical artefacts, works of art, models, etc.) bear witness to the fascination aroused by these machines of the seas, from their inception to the present day.

Show less