An item referred to the Naval and Military Record dated 17 January 1913 in which an article was published dealing with the strengthening of the French submarine fleet. It reported that as an experiment in 1924 2 fast 2.700 ton submarines were to be laid down with a heavy artillery armament and torpedo tubes. The designers wanted to protect the colonies with such submarines, an ides which was by naval experts discussed. Merchant submarines of 3.500 ton and mail boat submarines of 6.000 ton were mend to maintain the communication with the French colonies Algeria, Senegal, Congo and Madagascar. Several engineers made designs for this kind of submarines. While France was not able to conqueror superiority at sea with her surface warships were the communication under water or in the air of the utmost importance.
